Duncan Riley writes about a recent issue where 9rules has been criticized of being a “link farm.” He writes that 9rules is more of a blog ring than a blog network. However, he dismisses the accusation that 9rules is acting like a link farm because member blogs don’t necessarily link to all (or even just some) blogs in the network on their blogrolls.

The question then becomes: what is the best way to describe the 9rules model? I’m tempted to suggest blog commune, and given Scriv’s political bent he’d probably half like that, but I thinking blog community is a much better description, after all it’s not just about the links, 9rules has always been big on community and fellowship and the site as a portal is geared towards this. Sure, you could argue for blog directory as well, but directory doesn’t encompass the social aspects: blog community just fits perfectly.

The issue was actually about quantity vs. quality, with 9rules being accused of focusing on how many sites it has in its roll. However, it’s perhaps good to note here that not all blog networks are alike in structure, business model and even in the definition.