When I found out over a month ago that my site had been invited to join the prestigious 9rules content network as a religion blog, I was really excited. I thought it would be an excellent chance to be a part of a new community of discussion, as well as boost my site’s traffice, rankings and name recognition.

So when I finally received the welcome packet in my email many days later, I eagerly went to their site to read through their terms of service and put my official stamp of approval on it. Unfortunately, I discovered the following provision of their member agreement:

In February 2006, 9rules, Inc. implemented a one network only provision to the member agreement. 9rules members can only be a member of one content network. By accepting this agreement, you agree that you currently are not a member of another content network. In the event you decide to join another content network, you will inform 9rules so your site can be removed from the Network.

When I read this, I took it to mean that they didn’t want their member sites to be part of other commercial or business networks. Which I can understand, since they are trying to build a brand around their own content network. I wrote to them though to ask if they also included personally owned and operated networks under this provision, because I now run almost a dozen websites under the Pop Occulture Network banner. At this point, I do the lion’s share of the writing for all of these sites along with the maintenance and everything else.

In any event, I got what I considered was an unclear response to my email from Paul Scrivens, one of the head muckety-mucks at 9rules (who on his website claims that he is “the nicest asshole you will ever meet”), saying something about how I could remove my network badge and still be included in their group. I wrote to him asking for clarification and expressing my interest in working out a solution that met both of our needs, but never heard back from him over the course of an entire month, despite three subsequent follow-up emails. So much for rule number 7 of their much-touted 9rules: “When you talk, we listen.” Apparently not! Why do I want to be part of a network again that doesn’t even acknowledge valid questions or concerns of its members? What’s the benefit for me again…?

My hesitancy to simply remove mention of my own network has several facets to it. First off, the internet is nothing if not a series of interlocking-networks. That much is even implied within the word “internet” itself. Second, what difference does it make if I link to sites and call them a network or don’t call them a network? It’s a distinction that seems negligible to me at best. And third, why should I allow an outside party to dictate to me content restrictions and acceptable branding and business management of my own work when what they are offering me in exchange is completely unproven from my standpoint? It would be one thing if i knew I was going to get X amount of traffic, Y increase in PageRank and Z name exposure from the whole thing, but as it stands, no one offered me any information like this, even after my polite request for further information.

And so, it is without too much regret that I formally decline my invitation to join the 9rules network. I have stripped my site of their network badges and am going to focus on building out and improving my own work, rather than encouraging someone else to benefit from the time and energy I have poured into it. I would still like, however, to heartily recommend the other 9rules religion blogs, because I think they do represent and interesting and informative cross-section of perspectives on contemporary spirituality. Each of these authors has put a great deal of effort into their sites and they deserve to be successful with them.

1. thinkBuddha
2. Open Switch
3. ServantBlog
4. Making Chutney
5. Church Relevance
6. Echo Faith
7. Godbit
8. SonSpring
9. Eyes Turned Outwards
10. Timothy’s Burden

Good luck everybody - I will definitely be keeping an eye on your sites. Whether or not we’re formally part of the same “network,” I still consider us to be part of the same community of people out there looking for the Truth. May we each find it in our own way!