As a member of 9rules I’m obligated to tell you the story of “Ali”, 9rules version 5. Actually, I lied, there is no obligation, I just had an inkling.

Codenamed “Ali” after the pugilist of the same name, 9rules version 5 is a significant functional upgrade from the previous incarnation.

The new 9rules site has new social features; like notes, and my.9rules which gives you a way to network with members and readers alike.

If you have last.fm, flickr and del.icio.us accounts you can plug in your username(s) and pull recent tracks, pics and links from those accounts onto your my.9rules profile page. I love this, no need to clutter the 9rules database with info that is available elsewhere.

Notes, which are basically one big non-linear forum allows you to start new topics and add to existing topics in each 9rules community.

There is also a new feature called “points” where you can disperse and receive “points”. I’m not sure why or to what end, perhaps to show dominance over the other participants, sort of a virtual game of “Who’s got a bigger penis”.

Overall the social networking features are quite nice, and I can see a great deal of potential in using them.

The new site also goes a long way for highlighting member content, and presenting it in a better way as to give a fair shake to those members who update infrequently, as opposed to those of us that pump out fresh content daily. I like this part of the new 9rules very much.

What about the stuff I don’t like? Well I think for the most part those things are all bugs that’ll get worked out eventually, so no real complaints.

What’s about the design? Well, let’s just say it’s fine, a tad overwhelming, but not bad, at all.

All in all, do yourself a favor and go check it out, now.