To start, as some (are you 4 or 5) might have noticed this blog is in transition. But I will still continue this incoherent mix of thoughts, ramblings and soon also ’software impressions’ and other geek stuff. If you have been reading here since a while already, be warned this is one of those posts where I actually DO NOT flame, but rather put some thoughts of mine together. In the past those posts were considered ‘Franky flames’, they weren’t flames.
If you’re new here, welcome and don’t dare to bitch about my English as I try to blog in my fourth language. Uuupps, didn’t my mum learn me to always stay polite towards ’strangers’?
But lets move on to the topic. Some of you might have noticed this weekend was DAY4 Round4 at 9rules. 111 new blogs were selected for the prestigious network.
What is 9rules? 9rules is probably the best collection of quality blogs at the moment. 28 communities, 147 blogs, 191 feeds (some blogs are listed twice over the communities). There are some great blogs to discover. Soon 111 more. Surely this is only a small amount of blogs and I would never quote that it are the best blogs you’ll find. Great bloggers might not have heard of 9rules yet and some blogs are just hard to find. Other blogs hang out at other places, but 9rules is a nice network. A great collection of great blogs. They surely expanded my feedroll.
Round4, 700 blogs submitted. 111 made the cut. There definitely has been some drama around but I couldn’t be bothered to search blogland for it. Anyway time for me to pound my egg.
Round4 has definitely brought 9rules lots of publicity and Scrivs, Mike and the 9rules team surely deserve this. So do most bloggers who ‘make the network’. Expansion is great and will surely refresh the feed roll. But at the same time it is dangerous. 9rules is growing, growing fast. The community will almost double in the next days. Together with this new readers and feed stalkers will follow. Personally I think 9rules is soon going to hit the jackpot to reach his limit. And here I mean the ‘exclusivity’ will reach his climax.
Isn’t the next step after quality and popularity to go mainstream. Yes I do know this sounds ‘harsh’ but some day it’ll happen to 9rules as well. Imagine how many people want to join the network now 9rules has hit the bigger traffic-exchanger in blogland. I am glad to see those blogs made the cut, they have worked hard for it and will surely end up on my feed roll if they weren’t already, but they will also propagate the ‘words’ among the big masses. Do I need to continue here?
Imagine Round 5. 5000? Accumulate to this the amount of hate mail for Scrivs and Co., the potential sure drama. And lots more. Guys, sell now, you have built up a great platform. Sell now and follow your own principles. We both now from now on everything will be different.
And to conclude, Scrivs and 9rules team, this was no flame, I really like the network you have built up and have discovered some great blogs. You should enjoy every new bit of popularity because you have worked hard for it. And did a great job at it.
I, I discovered new blogs, feed rolled them and move on (soon). Sometimes (rarely) I even commented and I do know you never ‘censored’/pushed anyones content. ;)
P.S. : To avoid drama at other blogs, I did not link to other blogs I have/had in mind.
P.P.S. : I will (try) to improve the grammar later, since this post is written under pressure after my comment somewhere else and I want to avoid my comment being misinterpreted. ;)
P.P.S : Paul, ‘Whitespace’ is still in the 9rules header.
8 have made me smarter ↓
1 cristinamarie // Jun 6, 2006 at 3:15 pm// View all comments by cristinamarie//
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No, I definitely see where you’re coming from or where your thought process began. As a blogger myself, I always viewed 9rules as an “exclusive” blog network. Many of the blogs I read are apart of 9rules. However, my views of it being so “exclusive” are faded. If 700 bloggers applied and let’s say 111 were accepted, how is it exclusive? What kinds of qualifications does someone need to be apart of 9rules? It would of been very different if let’s say 20 out of 700 were chosen. Then maybe I’d see it as being more exclusive. Now it doesn’t seem that special.
Just another network.
2 Franky // Jun 6, 2006 at 3:44 pm// View all comments by Franky//
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Cristina, I’ld surely say that 9rules still is exclusive, but I think I was already one step further in my thoughts, that’s why I mentionned Round5. This round has brought 9rules the well-deserved popularity, but if you ask me now everything will slowly but surely become an automated process.
As a reader I’ld expect (knowing that almost 600 bloggers hoped being good enough to join but didn’t make the cut) more blogs who will be integrated in between different rounds, even more new blogs with Round 5 aso.
As for ‘just another network’ technically yes but I think still the best network there is. Surely every member blog at 9rules has deserved/deserves this.
Anyway/luckily Scrivs hasn’t been ‘irked’ by my post and I’ll answer later on @ 9rules blog (am at work now).
Btw, for everyone who would/might think I have, no I didn’t submit my incoherent mix of topics for 9rules, but this still allows me to be a critic reader. ;)
3 Mike Rundle // Jun 6, 2006 at 5:51 pm// View all comments by Mike Rundle//
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Cristina Marie, I’d argue that our Network is very exclusive, it just may seem like we’re not because we posted a list of all sites that got in, right from the very start. In our previous round we had 509 blogs submit, and I believe we accepted about 70 of them, which equates to nearly the same percentage as this round. Also, every single week we receive hundreds of requests to join 9rules. Overall, I’d say that we’ve had nearly 5000-6000 requests to join our Network (obviously not all unique blogs, some submit a few times), but only accepting a total of ~260 (once this Round is 100% approved) makes us pretty exclusive.
We’ve never put a cap on any round, simply because if a site meets our standards for quality then what good does it do our readers and members if we don’t highlight it? The goal for 9rules has never been exclusivity, it has always been to highlight great writing from the independent web. By us accepting more blogs into 9rules, it’s not that our qualifications are slipping, it’s that more blogs are producing higher quality content, and if that’s the case then I think it’s a fantastic scenario for the entire blogosphere.
4 cristinamarie // Jun 7, 2006 at 4:15 am// View all comments by cristinamarie//
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What are the ground rules or characteristics for blog quality? In no way am I prejuding the blogs that were accepted, I am just trying to get a better idea. There are many blog networks out there large or small, but if a network is all about quality, what seperates them from another network?
I feel like I’ve put my foot in my mouth.
5 Mike Rundle // Jun 7, 2006 at 5:36 am// View all comments by Mike Rundle//
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Back a few months ago Paul wrote up a series of articles that discussed what blog traits make for high quality blogs; some of the qualities that we look for when analyzing a site for inclusion into the Network:
Consistency, Audience Participation, and Design to name a few. Also, we recently posted an entry (today) that discusses a lot of the issues brought up with your comment and this entry: Being Exclusive.
The foot in the mouth didn’t happen, I think that the team and I need to do a better job of explaining just how a blog gets into 9rules and what qualities we look for :)
6 smackfoo // Jun 7, 2006 at 9:12 am// View all comments by smackfoo//
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Hiding elitism in plain sight…
For those who have been under a rock for the last two weekes, 9rules recently opened invitations for round 4.
Many great bloggers made the cut, including Master Punsalan and quite a few others, some 115 out of 700 sites.
However, as is always the case,…
7 Nick Marks // Jun 10, 2006 at 10:09 pm// View all comments by Nick Marks//
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thank you for your blog, it’s so interesting and useful
8 Mark McRae // Aug 15, 2006 at 9:08 am// View all comments by Mark McRae//
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I really like the color scheme and banner design of this blog, which make the text easier to read than white background.