Why The Blogosphere Lost Its Hart

The ever-watchful Romenesko points us to an interview in Denver's Westword newspaper with former Colorado Senator Gary Hart. While Romenesko highlights Hart's comments about the quality of the network morning news shows, equally interesting is his take on the blogosphere. You see, a few years back, Hart was one of the early-adapters to blogs among the political/celebrity class but it appears he's found the experience wanting and closed the blog in 2004 (although he occasionally posts on Huffington Post) . Here's Hart's take on blogging, from Westword:

A few years back, former Colorado senator Gary Hart boldly waded into the blogosphere -- and before long, he was mired in cyber-muck.

"This was during the run-up to the Iraq war," recalls Hart, 69. "A number of people were saying, 'You've got to run for president' and so forth, because no one else was speaking out. So I opened a blog." He soon discovered that managing this addition to his old website "was very time-consuming, because the responders want you to engage with them. They say, 'I read your blog, and I disagree on this and this and this. Tell me what you think.' And if you start doing that, it's 24/7. It's like going to a public meeting, and everyone in the crowd says, 'This is what I think. Now I want you to say what you think of it.' Every one of them. And the other thing is, the haters are using the system, and they're trying to destroy it. These are people who are ad hominem, hate-filled, and they clog up the blogways with their diatribes and frothing at the mouth. And that kind of takes the fun out of it."