<p>I always use my real name in fora like this.  I see doing so as an honesty and integrity issue, plus I have as part of my role description to promote myself and my employer as up to speed with modern statistical practice and this is a small part of that.</p>

<p>Why do I answer?</p>

<p>1) I discovered the site when I had a couple of questions myself and quickly got very useful answers.  A few weeks later I decided I should put back in some of what I got out - it's only fair to contribute.  I empathised with people struggling over questions, and saw a few cases where I could help.  Straightforward empathy and ethical duty to do something good for others.</p>

<p>2) Once I started answering, I quickly found how useful it was for me as a form of professional development.  Answering even "easy" questions (is there such a thing? nearly every one has interesting philosophical implications if taken seriously) forces me to think things through a bit more clearly than is sometimes the case in my fast-paced applied world; and revisit the odd text or two that I thought I'd learnt and understood but needed refreshing on.  There are many more statisticians here to hold me to account than in my normal job, and I can feel my understanding and skills improving.</p>

<p>3) I think the reputation and badges system is well designed and frankly slightly addictive.  </p>

<p>In summary - stack exchange has some of the addictive power of facebook, with much greater intellectual stimulation, many chances to learn, chances to help some people out, and hopefully reduce a few bad mistakes in published science.</p>
