I have often written in the Skeptical Inquirer about how what we do is a communal activity. There is a dynamic interaction between our authors/investigators who prepare our articles, reports, critiques, and reviews and our intelligent and curious readers, supporters, and conference attendees who provide moral (and financial!) support, information, ideas, and informed feedback. This is one of the decidedly cool things about the skeptical community. Everyone can contribute in some way.
And what is it we all do? Well, to quote the short version of the mission statement of SI and our Committee for Skeptical Inquiry that appears in every SI: We promote “scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims.” That’s all! Yes, that mission is rather broad. And that is exactly what we try to do. We bring all the tools of evidence-based critical inquiry to popular questions and urgent issues that fascinate, mystify, confuse, and befuddle people. We seek scientifically validated information about issues and assertions and then provide a clear evaluation of those claims.