Ego.
The reality is that almost NONE OF US are professional traders. If I throw a rock at anyone on this forum, there is probably a 99.99% chance that the person I hit, is not a professional trader.
I am not a professional trader. I will say this if asked. If you ask most people on this forum, what would their answer be?
Would they flat out admit it, would the lie... would they deflect?
I think we all pretend we know what we are talking about, so that we don't get dismissed.
Imagine if every discussion we entered, the person we are talking to, could just ask, "Are you a professional trader?"
If you say "NO," the person could just say, "You're not even a full time trader, who cares what you think?"
If you ask someone what they do for a living, most people would just tell you flat out(unless they are ashamed of what they do). If you ask someone on the forum if they are a pro-trader, they'll either deflect, lie or ignore the question.
I think its all ego, just my opinion of course.