Times reporter Todd S. Purdum keeps a source anonymous "so as not to steal the spotlight." Here are some other really good reasons not to name your source:

5. Source was going to get all high and mighty after being quoted; wanted to keep him/her in her place.

4. After consulting with feng shui expert, source's name really throws off the harmony and balance of the rest of the article.

3. Source's name is too long, thus ruining the really nice symmetry of the article's inches.

2. Source's name is too hard to type.

1. Source does not technically 'exist.'