The Rise of "Anon"

I've been trying to keep an eye on some of the new stories coming on to the site recently. It's great to see that interest in our favorite story line hasn't diminished, but there is one thing that I find a bit odd, the widespread use of anonymous characters. I've always felt that naming a character is quite important (in fact, I've made it a habit of using the names of famous race horses for my original characters. Hopefully it doesn't get me in trouble) O.K., maybe I just answered my own question. I can see the argument that writers don't want to take the chance of stepping on someone else's toes. But if there is a writer out there willing to talk about it, I'm curious. If you made one of your characters anonymous...why did you do it?