I'm not a 100% sure about this, so anyone feel free to correct me, but I don't think that the FF9 part of the site has been active for quite some time. PlayOnline opened right when FF9 came out, and Square did the whole password in the FF9 strategy guide thing to get people to sign up for the PlayOnline service in preparation for the release of FFXI. In other words, 9 on PlayOnline was a gimmick. Therefore, now that most people have already played 9 and 11 is up and running, Square dumped the 9 part of the site.

I played 9 last year, and also was frustrated by the lack of info in the strategy guide because of its relience on PlayOnline. However, I just looked up what I wanted to know on sites like eyesonff.com and figured it all out anyway.