Yesterday we launched a new version of 9rules that we like to call ‘Ali‘ (sidenote: We started using codenames for all the new versions of 9rules starting with Version 4, Phoenix, and trust me it makes things easier from a historical perspective). This version does a lot of things differently than previous versions of 9rules and adds quite a bit of new functionality. What I wanted to discuss in this entry was one of the new features of the site that we named my.9rules.

If you actually read what I write you will notice that I called my.9rules a “feature” of 9rules instead of trying to describe it as a full-blown social network, when in fact it does basically everything that other social networks do. However, there were two things that we kept in mind when working on my.9rules:

1. We didn’t like how current social networks handled us.
2. We wanted to actually make a social network have meaning if we were going to attach it to the 9rules brand.

Last week I asked the question of “What don’t they do well?” and I had Ali in mind when I was writing it. For me, most social networks try to sell me on too much stuff that I don’t need. I already have sites that I write on so I don’t need a blogging option. I use Flickr for sharing online photos so I don’t need another place to do that. del.icio.us handles my links and last.fm watches my music. So as you can see I really don’t need another platform to handle this data, but it would be nice to have a place outside of my sites for others to see what I am getting into.

That is the approach we took with my.9rules. We live in an open data world now. We have so many accounts setup in so many different places that it is hard to understand why some sites believe they have to give you another way to store data. In all honesty we probably couldn’t do photo-sharing better than Flickr or bookmarking better than del.icio.us so why even bother? The point shouldn’t be to lock people in so they are forced to use your site, the point is to offer them a compelling solution so that they want to use your site.

Another issue I have with social networks is they aren’t very social. Usually you get to leave a comment or send a message and that’s it. Maybe you get to be a voyeur into someone’s life, but most places simply offer a one-to-one conversation mechansim. At 9rules, we have Notes where great discussions take place yet there was no way to really get to know the people who you were having these conversations with. In a nutshell we had the “social” without the relationships and created my.9rules to fill that void.

So now you can get to know about the people you are having conversations with through their blogs, photos, links and music. This isn’t about aimlessly adding friends just to see your number go up. This is about actually building relationships with people that share the same interests as you and this is only the beginning.

Originally posted on February 9, 2007 @ 4:40 am

If you weren’t aware we opened up the 9rules Network for Round 4 and there is only about 9 hours left to get your site submitted for consideration to join our Community. This round has already turned out to be our largest (correction: last round we got 509 submissions, but as of this writing we are at 506) so its exciting to see 9rules continue to grow.

So if you haven’t submitted your site yet and would like to join the Community then please do so or if you know of a site that you think would be a good fit for us then encourage them to submit their site.

After this round we will be releasing some new features for the whole Community (this includes non-9rules readers) to enjoy and there are some interesting design decisions that we had to make that we will surely write about. Till then, I thank everyone who continues to read our sites and I personally look forward to reading many more.

Originally posted on May 17, 2006 @ 2:58 pm

Note: If you want to see other examples of Arno at work checkout Kartooner and Adactio.

Last week I am sitting in my chair stressing like crazy because I am trying to figure out how to pay for Mike’s love for cars, Colin’s love for milk (inside joke) and Tyme’s love for…ummmm…toys, when suddenly an email comes across my desk from a Mr. Arno Zimmerman. I never heard of the man in my life, but you know when a guy like Arno Zimmerman talks to you, you have to listen. So I read the email which said:

Dear Mr Scrivens,

My sincere apologies for writing to you unannounced. My name is Arno Zimmerman and I am CEO of an Internet domain name acquisitions agency based here in Los Angeles, California.

My agency is currently engaged by a well-known Hollywood studio. The studio is producing a new religious movie called The Nine Rules. Although I cannot give you full information about the movie, I am authorized to tell you that the movie is about Moses’ early years before he was given the Ten Commandments. The story tells of his early experiences and the first nine rules that he was given by God. The movie has an all star cast, including Brad Pitt in the title role, and will be released in the fall.

My client is therefore very keen to purchase the rights to the domain name 9rules.com from you.

I am sure that you will understand that I cannot provide you with much in the way of information about our client at this time. However I can assure you that they are sincere in their offer, and that they are keen to conclude this purchase quickly.

I would be interested to learn how much you would require for this transfer of ownership.

Many kind regards,

Arno Zimmerman
CEO and Internet domain name acquisitions

Hot damn, I’m about to make some money. Sell off a domain and I still own ninerules.com, which I could sell to him if he wanted it. Of course there are some logistical problems such as backlinks and all that type of stuff, but maybe I could work out some .htaccess agreement. I could think of a new name and 9rules would kind of have to start over again, but with 7 digits sitting in our account that wouldn’t be too much of a problem. God bless Arno.

Let me do some research on this man. Damn, can’t Google his name or company. Fair enough, let me check out this movie that he speaks of that comes out this summer. Can’t find shit on imdb and the last photo of Brad Pitt looks like this:

No beard or anything, so obivously the movie is done, Brad shaved the beard and the movie studio is just keeping it underwraps. Fair enough and I think it’s time to reply to Arno.

I would gladly consider the sale of the domain, but a major issue is that my company, 9rules, Inc. uses the domain obviously for our own business purposes so I would have to say that we are looking at something more than just a transfer of a domain. This would require us to come up with a new name for the company amongst other things.

I’m always interested in listening to whatever offer you are willing to put on the table, but I do admit it would take a considerable sum for me to part with the domain. And honestly the lack of information about your company makes me hesitant to further this conversation. I understand why you cannot release details of your client as to prevent me from contacting them directly, but some further information about you and your company would put me at ease a bit more.

Alright Arno, throw me a number so we can get to work here. Has to be 7 digits or I walk to another studio.

Many thanks for your prompt reply. I can understand how cautious you must be in circumstances such as this. Hopefully I can allay your concerns.

My company, Zimmerman’s has been working with our studio clients here in the States since my wife and I moved from London, England to Encino, California some months ago. We have been working with several major film studios and we are currently engaged by a number of Hollywood studios as we specialize in the acquisition of domain names for the film industry.

Recent years have seen a decline in the number of religious movies being made in Hollywood. As I mentioned in my previous email, The Nine Rules tells the story of the young Moses . The Nine Rules will inject new life in the genre and will star a number of popular actors of today.

Moses will be played by Brad Pitt who has grown a beard especially for the part. Natalie Portman has been cast as Esther, a young servant girl with whom Moses falls in love. In the climax of the movie, Moses must choose whether he is to marry Esther or to go walking in the mountains (where he meets the burning bush and is given the tablets containing the Ten Commandments). While the story of Esther and Moses is not told in the Bible, the writers hope that this aspect of The Nine Rules story will present a more rounded character for Moses than has been seen in previous movies. The Nine Rules is adventure, romance and religious epic all rolled into one movie.

Being the CEO of an Internet based organization yourself, I am sure that you will know of the increasing difficulty in acquiring original domain names. I also fully understand that your organization uses this domain name for your business purposes.

I can assure you that my clients are sincere in their offer, and that they are keen to conclude this purchase quickly. I would be interested to learn how much you would require for this transfer of ownership.

Seems like a great story and the logic behind using the religion genre makes total sense to me. Maybe our Religious Community would like to get involved. Okay, I guess it’s on me to throw a number out there so here we go.

Hope you enjoyed your Easter Sunday. I have given this a ton of thought and these are the issues that arise with the selling of the domain:

• 3 years worth of backlinks will not be easy to build back up again.
• A name and brand go behind 9rules and therefore starting over from scratch is not an eviable position to be in.

Since our company has already received a number of inquiries for investment I can not part with the domain for less than $1.7M and understand I must throw a number out since you were reluctant to put one on the table. I am more than happy to listen to any counteroffers.

Alrighty then Arno, let’s see what you got.

Many thanks for your prompt and considered reply. Under normal circumstances your proposal of $1.7 million would have been perfectly acceptable and we would have been happy to agree to your terms. However I have some unfortunate news.

My agency has been informed today that in light of the sensitive situation in the Middle East, the direction of The Nine Rules project has been changed and a new script has been written.

The movie will now not be about a biblical Moses, but will instead tell the story of a young man growing up in the mountains of Mexico. In this new story, Manuel (Moses) falls in love with a young senorita, but despite his love for her, he must travel into the mountains accompanied only by his donkeys. The new movie will be called The Nine Mules.

I am very sorry that we were not able to conclude our business and I will be sending you and your associates VIP tickets to the opening night of The Nine Mules (traditional Mexican costume optiotional) in compensation.

So I can’t make my partners happy because of some mules? Ain’t that a bitch.

Originally posted on April 17, 2006 @ 1:20 pm