Postcards from the Funny Farm

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Great blogs should be heralded. 9Rules.com does that. I’ve written a bit on 9Rules here in the past but I never really “got” what the thrust and vision of the company was … until now.

I recently asked Mike Rundle, co-founder of 9Rules, Chawlk.com and several exciting subsites, to answer some of my questions. After reading his answers and trying out Chawlk.com for months now I can tell you I think 9Rules.com is exciting, worth sharing, and absolutely something I endorse. See what you think as you read Mike’s insightful and engaging answers below.

Damien Riley: Hello Mike, if you don’t mind, I’d like to start with that from your perspective. What was your involvement in the beginning of 9Rules and what was the original 9Rules meant to be as a service?

Mike Rundle: Paul Scrivens and I have been friends and business partners since Winter 2003, originally founding one of the first blog-focused design and development firms in May 2004 (sold in March 2007.) At SXSW Interactive in Spring 2005, Paul had an idea about creating a spot that would aggregate great content from the multitude of blogs that were out there and allow bloggers to have a space to collaborate and work together. We invited about a dozen friends of ours to join the original 9rules, and they all happened to be designers, so for awhile we solely highlighted design content, but soon thereafter we branched out to business, technology, marketing, etc. Over the years the 9rules membership base has expanded and we’ve separated blogs out into individual “communities” for easier browsing. We’ve always hand-picked blogs to become members of 9rules and it’s been a great advantage for us and our readers as they know what they’re reading has met some difficult criteria.

Damien Riley: My understanding is that 9Rules started out as a promotion of member blogs and nothing else. Is that a correct understanding?

Mike Rundle: We promoted member blogs, but the big service we provide is the ability to reach out to great thinkers on the Web and have a common bond as a 9rules member. Many of our members are respected artists, teachers, entrepreneurs, investors, and because of this it puts you directly in touch with some of the best minds on the Web. If a member has a question or is in need of some feedback, there’s certainly no shortage of that in our private 9rules member forum.

Damien Riley: What was the intention of adding “Notes” and “Clips” and making 9Rules look much more like a social network?

Mike Rundle: The addition of Notes, Clips, and other social features were a way to get 9rules readers more connected with each other, similar to how our 9rules members are connected. A strong community of members and readers already existed around 9rules, so the addition of social features to the site was just a way to try and foster the community. We added Notes to 9rules long before social sites like Twitter and Facebook took off, so we never really had the intention of making 9rules look or act like a certain site, we just wanted to provide a way to get people more involved with the site and with each other.

Damien Riley: Recently, about 3 months ago, I joined 9Rules for the facet called “Notes.” My hope was to drive some readers to my site. Was this social network style a move away from the old 9Rules?

Mike Rundle: It certainly was a big departure from the “old style” 9rules that readers were used to, but it was an important evolutionary step for us. After seeing how people have used Notes and Clips over the past 2 years, we’re able to apply that knowledge to Chawlk and the other subsites and hit the ground running with them.

Damien Riley: I’ve been reading a lot, particularly from Scrivs, that this move is as a direct result of what former 9Rules folks have requested. How much of those suggestions influenced the decision and how much of your own vision played a part.

Mike Rundle: People have different reactions to change, and there will always be a fence separating the opinions of one group from another. Many 9rules members and readers think that the split of 9rules from the social features was a great move, but many of those same people thought that the addition of Notes and Clips to 9rules was also a great move. In the end it came down to what would best allow us to move ahead with our plans for the future, and the split allowed us to do that in the best way possible. People who love just having member content at 9rules are happy, and if they want to get involved more with like- minded people, they can head to Chawlk or to one of our subsites. We’re always interested in hearing what our members and readers think.

Damien Riley: Now that 9Rules is being restored to its original format and the Notes etc. will be relegated to Chawlk, what is the vision for both services?

Mike Rundle: 9rules is pure content from great, hand-selected blogs. We recently finished a membership round (our 6th since we started 9rules) and it’s great to be adding new members again, especially to a new site that highlights them and nothing else. 9rules.com is the place to find interesting content written by people who have a proven track record for producing interesting content, and we’re extremely proud of each and every 9rules member because they are a reflection of the quality and ideals that 9rules has stood for since we started. The current group of new members is definitely no exception, and I’m honestly envious of all their writing abilities. We really have a great bunch in this new group.

Chawlk.com is the portal that pulls in all the content from our 9 subsites and it’s mainly there for the hardcore readers that want everything. Our subsites are where people are really going to want to be if they’re looking for great discussion and interesting links on a specific topic. Over time our goal is for each subsite to have its own persona, features, and community, and be more than just “one of the subsites”. We just launched Chawlk and the subsites so right now their designs are only a bit different, but we’ll be revisiting each as time goes on.

Damien Riley: I won’t pry too much, but how does 9Rules determine if a blog should be granted membership or not.

Mike Rundle: Not prying at all! The first thing people want to know when they visit 9rules is what the membership criteria is, and fortunately our partner Tyme has been writing a great series on just what we look for when evaluating sites for membership. We have an entire category in our blog dedicated to “Site Tips”: blog.9rules.com/category/site-tips/ The general overview is we want blogs that are focused on one particular topic area and write great original content on a consistent basis. We evaluate sites by reading many articles from their blog, not just the recent ones, so sites that are only a few months old should wait until they have some more posts under their belt before submitting. We only accept submissions for 24 hours a few times per year, and our next submission round is on August 6, 2008. Your readers can find out more about joining 9rules here: 9rules.com/aboout/join/

Damien Riley: There are so many social networks out there. What does 9Rules offer the decent blogger out there looking to add quality to his/her blog and posts?

Mike Rundle: Our new subsite Wriging.com (writing + blogging) is dedicated to making you a better blogger so I’d highly recommend your readers check it out and subscribe if they’re interested in that topic and want to join a community of other bloggers.

If you’re looking to see how some great blogs operate, I’d definitely start by checking out our Members page (9rules.com/members/) and subscribing to some blogs that hit your interests.

Damien Riley: Finally, what is your hope that people will get out of 9Rules. What would you personally like to get thank you emails about ;)

Mike Rundle: I love when people find great, new blogs at 9rules that they’ve never seen before. We really take pride in being democratic about how gets into 9rules — it’s not about your traffic or RSS readers, it’s just about your writing. Because of this we usually highlight a lot of great, lesser-known blogs that end up becoming big hits once they get more people visiting their site. Personally I like finding great blogs before everyone else discovers them, and then helping them achieve some success.