“The idea was to build a site that would not only serve as a source for news about the production… but would also serve as a gathering place for the fandom to come together again,” says X-Files News content director Tiffany Devol. “The fans that visit our site and interact with us on social media have become a family, and it’s nice that no matter where we are in the world, there’s a place for us to come home to.”

While acknowledging that X-Files News has enjoyed a massive following, Devol has observed that the secret to the site is simply this: the fans. They admit to having been lucky and privileged to have met so many amazing people in this fandom and wouldn’t be able to do what they do without them. The site bridges the gap between new and old fans, and embraces the collaborative spirit of the community. Noting her perspective about the site’s role, Devol says, “We celebrate the amazing talent and drive this fandom has and the collective effort of the fans is what has gotten #XFilesRevival to where it is today. This fandom should be enormously proud of what it has accomplished so far.”

Other sites have remained just as dedicated in their own way. Eat The Corn offers in-depth analyses of the series. Its webmaster, Kimon, explains that the site is like an “archival site that safeguards material with these intense discussions on the show from the early days of the internet.”

Kimon has expanded his site into one that focuses on the writing, the science, the music, and the X-Files comics, as well as an archival site for interviews with cast and crew. He believes the show should be placed in the context of television history. To him, it recreates the feeling of “living in the world of the show in the time it aired.”

Sites like X-Files Universe have offered their own unique perspective. Its webmaster, Maurisa Pruett, explained that what drove the creation of X-Files Universe was her initial experiences with the original Fox site for The X-Files, the Delphi forum. When that shut down, she felt such a loss that when she found out that a second X-Files feature was green lit, she created her own forum with the help of some key volunteers. “I maintain XFU because it has turned into a type of wiki for the show… a time capsule of how people feel and the questions they have about the series,” she says. “XFU provides a quality forum for fans to discuss the show. That’s been my goal all along, a respectful forum run by fans of the show.”