HERE’S THE ANSWER

Gleaned from this thread as of 8/18 2:18PM

At least I think this is the answer. Or answers.

1. Because when you take the IRL identity stuff out of the process it makes communication smoother.

2. Tradition. Yes, we do it this way because it’s the way we’ve been doing it for a long time. Since the birth of Facebook or whatever.

3. So crazy people won’t track me down. Which seems crazy. But that’s just the kind half-acknowledged half-conscious consensual fantasy that people seem to buy into. So maybe it’s true.