Recent Blog Entries
That Club Atmopshere of 9rules
Written by Mike Rundle on September 15, 2005
Ken at Technosight posted a great entry today about the new network on the block (did I really just use that euphemism?) b5media.com. b5 is using a business model somewhat akin to Weblogs, Inc., however our friends over there plan on having a better relationship with their writers and forming some niche communities as well. Best of luck to them, I’m sure they’re going to do great things.
In the entry, Ken alluded to 9rules as being a type of “club atmosphere” and I have to agree wholeheartedly. Like Paul mentioned in a previous post, 9rules is about creating connections between the best minds in the web industry, creating opportunities for new products and partnerships to form, and also to give readers the chance to read some of the best thinkers in the weblog world all in one place. We’re a small team filled with young, passionate people, and 9rules is our dream. Building 9rules the best way we know how and helping our members is our very top priority, and if 9rules is thought of as more of a “club atmosphere” than a large weblog business, then we think that aligns with what we’re doing pretty well.
When I see members talking about the Network I find that many times the largest positive benefit for them isn’t some increase in traffic or feeding off the 9r Google juice. It’s the community that they are now part of and this community is a wonderful thing — so I’d like to shed some light on what makes the 9rules community a great place for people.
We have forums that all the members are a part of and nearly everyone contributes in some form or another. Much of the support comes from people looking for help. Other times someone will have an idea for a project and is looking for others to join them. In fact, we have a group now that is working on a 9rules-branded project so to speak and they only met because of 9rules and our forums.
Our dream is to get the very best innovators and thinkers in the web world to come together and then have them start a conversation. Psychology, sports, business, design, technology, and life are all some topics we’ve discussed in the forums, and that’s just in the past week or two.
We partially base our 9rules philosophy on one of my favorite quotes:
“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” — Margaret Mead
Our goal is to bring innovative, thoughtful people together and then see what happens. I think our 9rules members fit that bill perfectly, and am excited to roll out what we have planned in the very near future. Thanks for joining in that excitement, for it is our members, readers, supporters, and critics who make this a worthwhile venture.
September 15th, 2005 at 5:18 pm
Mike…thanks for the kind words. I really do think you guys have a great thing going for you. On top of that, you really want 9rules to work…and guess what, it is!
September 15th, 2005 at 6:47 pm
9rules Rules
I really like the 9rules network. They are like an awesome club, but you have to be invited. I’m really diggin the 2nd round of submissions….
September 15th, 2005 at 6:48 pm
Someone ought to photoshop a 9rules logo onto the door of a club or something.
Great job on Round 2.
September 15th, 2005 at 8:16 pm
As 9rules becomes more popular will you maintain the only qualification of great content?
Or, for example, in a year will you be asking that people submitting their site have a certain amount of traffic or a certain status in the blogging community?
September 15th, 2005 at 9:04 pm
Thanks for the link guys. We have a few more differences up our sleeves, but the reality is that you guys were the inspiration for a lot of what we consider to be our good ideas. So thanks for paving the way
September 15th, 2005 at 9:07 pm
Ben: I really feel that if we ever abandon our goals (for anything in our lives) then we haven’t anything to fall back on. In that regard, the day that 9rules throws our roots out the window, is the day that 9rules stops being 9rules and the entire network holds no value and the founders are utter failures. So let’s hope we don’t screw up like that
Jeremy: Thanks a lot, from someone like yourself, a greater compliment has never been paid.
September 15th, 2005 at 9:15 pm
Mike: That’s good to hear, you guys have a great thing going on and I’d hate to see it fall apart for the sake of a few extra dollars. You’ve already demonstrated your commitment to great content over money by allowing your members to keep all their money, wonderful job and keep up the good work
I’m hoping some day I can produce content half as decent as your members
September 15th, 2005 at 11:12 pm
Great post.
I’m a massive fan of the club/relational network that is 9rules and am looking forward to some friendly alliances down the track one day between our projects.
September 16th, 2005 at 1:29 am
While I’m not as prolific or talented as the 9rules folk, it’s been inspiring to see so many of my regular feed owners being invited into the “club”. Speaking of inspiration, is there anyone else out there who would be interested in developing a wiki of web dev professionals? I think it would help expand the standards community by creating a place that people can get and offer help on designing sites. It would be more of an elite classifieds site than something like SitePoint.com.
September 16th, 2005 at 10:21 am
I have to say that I really appreciate the laid-back attitude of 9rules. It’s a whole lot of interesting writers, but without the pressure of conforming to make money. I agree, that it definitely has a “club” aspect to it, even down to the secret handshake.
September 21st, 2005 at 1:00 am
Blog Networks
I like the idea of blog networks. I really like what 9rules is doing. I like how they work, and if I don’t join a blog nework, I might just start my own. So when the b5media announced that it…