Illustration/Ravi Jadhav

Some time in April last year, independent news website Scroll.in made an announcement that left many readers perplexed.

For a digital publication that had consciously decided to not have a facility for readers' comments — the very core of online audience interaction — it seemed rather baffling why they'd go ahead and appoint a readers' editor? It took a long piece by former Economic and Political Weekly editor C Rammanohar Reddy, the man appointed to this new position, to set the record straight. Reddy pointed out why the 'comments facility' had long ceased to be a platform where civil and thoughtful discussions took place.