You know, I have always tried to figure this out as well. It's kind of confusing; you wouldn't think Philippe's mother would let him out of her sight if he was retarded, but then you'd also think the same thing would apply for if he was five. I've been reading this comic since late 2003, and have read the archives through once or twice, and while there is specific mention of the fact that he's five, Onstad hasn't come out and said Philippe was retarded outside of the (very very old) site description. Most of the Philippesque things we see Philippe do in the comic can be explained by just the young age with no retardation heaped on, so we can't conclusively say whether he's 5 or 5 and retarded.

I think it's fairly safe to say there are no spectators. Clues such as Roast Beef's 'without you I would never see the fight' and the fact everyone at Achewood Heights seems to find out everything by blogs seems to suggest no spectators allowed. Or maybe it's such an underground thing that nobody turns up? Mysterious.

I doubt that no one would show up; it seems pretty popular among the characters we're familiar with.

As the proud owner of a Blackberry, I can tell you that "clik clik clik tap" is what writing a blog post on one would sound like.