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1. Scrivs Says:
   February 2nd, 2008 at 9:12 pm

   If you want to make this interesting take a shot everytime Tyme says “Scrivs, Mike and I”. You’ll be wasted by minute 3.

2. Tyme White Says:
   February 3rd, 2008 at 8:25 am

   Haha, yeah…oops. I kept thinking about the people who might see it not coming from 9rules and if I said “the guys” they wouldn’t know who you were. I have a lot of respect for people that edit videos. Looking at it now I see a zillion things I would edit out/do different.

   I’ll get there eventually.

3. 9rules Network to Open New Site Submissions Soon Says:
   February 3rd, 2008 at 11:30 am

   [...] Tyme White gives a video update about new sites and when 9rules is opening up to new submissions. [...]

4. brendanb Says:
   February 3rd, 2008 at 7:21 pm

   Another round? I thought you folk had decided that was bad karma and to simply add people when and if they passed the bar?

   Righto, well, good luck with that eh – nice work on the other stuff you’ve got done.

5. Tyme White Says:
   February 4th, 2008 at 7:31 am

   @Brendan – Thanks! I said in the video I wasn’t going to say how the submissions will open. I’ll explain more as the time approaches.

6. Tony Says:
   February 4th, 2008 at 3:34 pm

   I don’t know what I’m more excitied about: The new Christina Aguilera concert DVD out tomorrow, or this forthcoming drinking streamcast. The anticipation is killing me!

7. Eli James Says:
   February 4th, 2008 at 10:25 pm

   ‘WHEN ARE WE OPENING UP SUBMISSIONS TO 9-RULES?

   And my answer to that is …. soon!’

   Oh that cracked me up, that did.

8. brendanb Says:
   February 5th, 2008 at 6:48 pm

   Aww Tyme,

   The submissions process last time was a bit of a failure, but it’s okay, cause you’re going to have another one so that will fix it all up, right?

   Not that you can say anything about it – well of course you can – but what good is another round without mystery, intrigue, confused processes and so forth. Like I said, good luck with that – but why anyone would want to re-submit to join 9rules given the outcomes of the last round?

   9rules was one this awesome thing to aspire to join, it held a great deal of sway in many circles and was viewed as a real achievement – now?

   Well, the Notes section is pretty cool. But unless one is happy to divote time to building your network for you, rather than build their own little corner of the universe it strikes me as a bit of a poor deal.

   You know I don’t pull punches – and that I’m not saying this out of any emotional need – I’m trying to get your attention and remind you that 9rules would be nothing without it’s members and the thousands of Notes users, who help build your network for you.

   For the love of God, please don’t treat entrants like fools – be honest, upfront (notify people they have successfully entered, then keep them up to date) and stick to your own entrance rules (whatever they may be).

   Otherwise, you’ll repeat the exact same failures as last time and that’s just not smart.

9. Tyme White Says:
   February 5th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

   …and stick to your own entrance rules (whatever they may be).

   Let’s address that. Anyone who entered 9rules after Round 3 agreed to the participation requirement. It was added by the request of members. New members did not adhere to the promise they made, causing members to become upset. In honesty, why should members try to bring exposure to other members they hardly know? Who are never around? That is why we decided to clarify that portion of the agreement. Being honest, anyone after Round 3 that didn’t agree with being active with others should not have accepted the invitation to join 9rules. The strength of 9rules has always been the members and their interaction with each other…that has always been the basis of 9rules. Many joint ventures, businesses, partnerships, etc. were based on interacting with one another.

   Unfortunately, 9rules became the place to pimp your site for traffic and this caused people to join for the wrong reasons. We will be addressing those issues when we open up submissions.

   Well, the Notes section is pretty cool. But unless one is happy to divote time to building your network for you, rather than build their own little corner of the universe it strikes me as a bit of a poor deal.

   And that would imply the wrong reason to join a social network (IMO). There are sites specifically for that (Reddit, Digg and we have Clips). The people interacting in my.9rules do not expect 9rules to build their network. We have a good time because we’re sitting back interacting with other, helping each other, making new friends and learning while we are at it. I just recently started actively participating in social networks but I did not go in thinking, “Hmm…how can I get those people to my site”. I’m interacting with people, making new friends. If they come to my site, ok fine…it’s not my goal. If I want to drive people to my site I will use the sites that are made for that and do a great job of it.

   Don’t get me wrong, I realize how being accepted in 9rules is a type of validation to many but our goal has always been to help spotlight cool content. With my.9rules there are a bunch of very cool people sharing their thoughts, ideas and knowledge. The guys and I are doing a SuperStream tomorrow night because we enjoy interacting with our community and getting to know them.

   We’re lucky as hell they enjoy interacting with us in return…and that’s what is important to us and what we will always value.

10. brendanb Says:
    February 5th, 2008 at 11:34 pm

    I love you Tyme, no, really – you actually respond to reasonable questions.

    New members did not adhere to the promise they made, causing members to become upset. In honesty, why should members try to bring exposure to other members they hardly know?

    I was referring to the initial terms of round 3 and the entrance process.It’s pretty clear what I said. The first process was to submit on the 9rules website. Then it became very muddled because the round wasn’t closed. Instead there were calls for email, when that didn’t work it was a new submission form, then it finally came to a drawn out halt.

    So pick your poison and don’t stray from it. Keep entrants updated. Those were the two strongest feedback messages I’ve seen from the last round.

    We have a good time because we’re sitting back interacting with other, helping each other, making new friends and learning while we are at it.

    Exactly. That’s cool. But that’s not what I said. In the last round a huge amount of emphasis was placed on “your site and content must be exceptional”, then you expected entrants to down tools and come spend all their time in Notes, rather than ensure their own content remained good enough during the entire drawn out debacle that was round 3.

    We all know there is an expectation that 9rules members would help spread the 9rules love. Except it was a number of the longer-term members who weren’t engaging. Rather than solely the newbies. You’ve now made that a part of the credo, rather than an expectation.

    I have no problem with that. I’m asking that you make sure the round doesn’t go down the same path as last time.

11. Tyme White Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 12:15 am

    Um, Round 3 was in 2005. We had a couple of rounds after that. The last round went awry (and we did the best we could) because Dreamhost, MediaTemple and another host had hosting problems at the same time. While we were going through sites (during the holiday break) they literally were not available. Quite a few people lost their databases so their site was no longer valid. Round 5 we semi-closed with 134 people but we had hundreds of sites that we still had to go through. Due to the large amount of people that had messed up sites, I opened submissions so they (and anyone else) could submit their site. We had thousands and thousands of submissions. No way to predict we would receive that many, especially so close to having a round. It did not help we had several large sites write about using 9rules to promote a site so that increased submissions as well.

    Hindsight is great and we learned from it but we went through an unexpected growth spurt. We’re not going to repeat history.

    Exactly. That’s cool. But that’s not what I said. In the last round a huge amount of emphasis was placed on “your site and content must be exceptional”, then you expected entrants to down tools and come spend all their time in Notes, rather than ensure their own content remained good enough during the entire drawn out debacle that was round 3.

    No, you have the wrong perception. We said we wanted members to interact with each other and if they wanted to interact with notes, that’s fine too. Which ever one is comfortable for them because in notes they could promote their site as well. We NEVER said they had to spend a lot of time and I purposely did not state a quota of time. Some prefer the more quiet nature of the private forum. Others prefer to jump in notes because there is more variety.

    And again, anyone after Round 3 (2005) who didn’t want to participate should not have accepted the agreement.

12. brendanb Says:
    February 6th, 2008 at 1:01 am

    Hindsight is great and we learned from it but we went through an unexpected growth spurt. We’re not going to repeat history.

    That’s all I needed to hear. And I meant round 5, not 3 (which I none-the-less typed). My mistake.

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