Why you are using an alias?

Most people who post commentaries on this and numerous other blogs do not reveal their true identity; instead they are using various aliases. Much of this seems simply a force of habit and convention. “This is the way it is done.” However it seems to me this habit deserves some deliberation. Dialogues are enriched when we know something about those with whom we exchange ideas. When I wrote some articles about sex offenders and received mail from people in federal penitentiaries, I paid special mind to these messages. When I read a posting by someone whose work I read before, it helps me to understand where they are coming from. Even such small details, say the gender of the person, are telling: is the person arguing for the rights and well being of his or her group, or for social justice for the members of another?