9rules to utter boredom?

This is going to cause some friction, it’s going to cause angst and it’s going to have defenders of the faith rise to the defence. Bring it.

If you love 9rules and believe they can do no wrong, stop reading now (actually, do read on - I’d like to hear your thoughts, too)..

If, however, you love blogging and have a genuine desire to cast your voice to a wider audience, read on.

.. it’s a question I believe an increasing number of people share. Where is 9rules actually going? Why are they increasingly apathetic, increasingly boring, devoid of excitement and ultimately, why has 9rules stopped caring about the wider blogging community?

And there was a great disturbance in the force, as though many hundreds of sphincters clenched in protest.

There are many who applied during the last round who have, as yet, heard absolutely nothing. Not a thing. Since October of 2006. Nada.

Over a month ago, it was suggested we email one of the 9rulers - which hasn’t, honestly, worked. At all. There have since been no new additions, no new voices. Nothing.

And time continues to pass - please, 9rules.. just stop. Stop making promises you no longer have a desire to keep and just stop the bullshit.

If the doors are now closed, step up to the plate and say so. If you want to introduce a new way of adding sites, then commit to it. Don’t make excuses for a lack of action or interest and for the love of god, at least have the decency to keep people informed.

We know as much about the status of submitted sites now, as we did last October. That’s six months of little more than excuse after excuse, interspersed with promises that had no real hope of being kept.

If something is important, one makes the time it needs or deserves. If one isn’t making time, then obviously the matter simply cannot have any importance. We no longer matter. That is the message 9rules is sending.

Sure, we have my.9rules — it’s a great portal with a great online community.. but it’s no more than a forum, where people hang out to chat and discuss topics.. a twitter-meets-wordpress.com like commune.

And I’m not sure if I continue to want to be a member of a community that has forgotten who helped put it on the map. You need us to prosper and grow and improve. A network that has no new life, no new inspiration and no new voices, is a network without growth and without a future.

Tyme has said:

“As I often preach companies need to go back and revisit why they are doing the things they do.” #

.. perhaps it’s time (tyme?) 9rules does as well.

Where are you going, 9rules? Have you forgotten who you are? Where is the excitement you once held? Why have you stopped caring?

≡ This is a journal entry relating to the topics of No Tags.

Brendan Borlase is a Systems and Network Administrator living in Adelaide, Australia, having lived, worked and breathed Information Technology for over 12 years. Learn more.

Feedback is encouraged. If you would like to read more, consider subscribing to the regularly updated RSS Feed.


  1. Ronald Huereca

    Wow. Well said. I am one of those people that haven’t heard a thing since October. I have yet to join any 9rules communities because, frankly, the whole round submission thing has left a bad taste in my mouth.

  2. brendan

    And this is the thing that, really, frustrates me most. It should be noted that I am not angry, by any means - I’m just a little disappointed.

    The door should have been politely shut after the initial list. It would have been a clean break and folks would have had time to work towards another round.

    That is how all other rounds have worked and just seems to have had the best result - those who were borderline, would have then had a chance to really work towards the next round.

    Now we have a situation where 9rules are so bogged down and out-of-time that they have closed the doors until such time, as they can spend the time to ensure the right content makes the cut.

    I have the utmost respect for the 9rules crew - it just saddens me, in a way, that it’s got this far before they realised how much of an effect it has had on those who have been waiting.. and closed it out.

  3. matthew

    http://9rules.com/my/ looks really interesting (though seemingly YET ANOTHER site to join, upload an avatar and try to keep a track of) so I signed up yesterday. Sadly, still no sign of the confirmation/password email - I even clicked the ‘I forgot my password’ button.

    Maybe I’ll try again.

  4. brendan

    It’s real slow to send email - I had to reset my password this morning - but it will, eventually, send it.

    Between you, me and half the internet, Notes is what really makes 9rules cool - because it gives the common joe a chance to chat/ post/ comment with the 9er’s.

  5. matthew

    Since signing up yesterday morning (it’s morning again here so its been roughly 24 hours) and sending a reminder in the afternoon Ive heard nowt.

    Ive now signed up again under another email.

    We’ll see, but I’m not too confident about joining a network where presumably simple admin quite possibly automated emails take so long.