Dear reader,

I haven't written directly to you before and, as it happens, the first time I've chosen to do so is on this, our last day.

After today, The Drum online is being closed. ABC News will continue to publish opinion and analysis but will do so in different ways and no longer under the Drum banner. (The Drum TV program will continue unchanged.)

As editor, my relatively low profile on these pages has been deliberate. We have sought to make The Drum not an expression of one person's views, but a forum for the interplay of a variety of viewpoints from across the political spectrum, filtered only by our strict adherence to editorial principles of fairness, accuracy and deep respect for a strong argument well expressed. We all have opinions, but at The Drum we wanted to ensure that those we published were tethered to facts and tested for fairness and accuracy.

And I'm satisfied that thanks to the intelligence and diligence of those who have worked here with me over the past four years, we brought rigour and credibility to the publication of opinion and analysis, all the while growing the audience.

We have been a small team, particularly in the last couple of years, but at different times over the past four years an extraordinary group of people have helped produce The Drum online: Patrick Wood, Michael Collett, Catherine Taylor, Aimee Lipscombe, Kate Brownlie-Smith, Yvette Blackwood and Jade Ginnane. My gratitude to each of them is inestimable.

Thanks to you, our readers, Drum articles were often among ABC News's most popular. An analysis we did last year showed the average number of readers for Drum articles grew 20 per cent in one year alone. And you spent more time with Drum articles than any other on ABC News - reading right through to the end (yes, it's kind of creepy that we can know these things) and often staying with us a very long time indeed, arguing it out in the comments.

We thank you all for entrusting us with your time and attention and for bringing us your (sometimes very heated and passionate) views about Australian politics, our economy, our security, the future of our climate, our changing social attitudes, and our sometimes baffling, sometimes humorous, often contentious, world.

And I'm very grateful to all who contributed to The Drum these past four years - from columnists to freelancers to academics; from advocates and politicians to everyday Australians telling us their extraordinary stories. Drum writers have won a Quill and were shortlisted for Walkleys.

So it's over and out for The Drum online. As for me, while I was asked to continue in a similar editorial role here, I have declined. It's time to find something new.

Thanks again for supporting The Drum.

Chip Rolley

Editor, The Drum online