X-Phile

You may be looking for the zine X-Philes.
X-Phile is a term used by fans of Chris Carter's The X-Files to describe themselves. A play on words, Phile (from the Latin -phila, from Ancient Greek φίλος [philos], “dear, beloved”) is used in the fannish sense as someone who is a lover of a certain character of a show.
==History of Use==
In February 1994 (five months after the show premiered), fans discussed the topic on alt.tv.x-files.
The first X-Files print zine published was Incident UXP (May 1994), and in it, the editor uses the terms "X-O-Phile" and "X-o-Phile." Another use of "X-o-Phile" was in October 1994 when a fan on alt.tv.x-files referred to the character, Fox Mulder, as an "X-o-phile," rather than a description for a fan. "I had thought about that when the commercial started up after that part. The only theory I could think of is that our X-o-phile was worried about Scully and the madman, and decided that it was the madman..." - Is Mulder stupid? (Ascension spoiler) (Oct 24, 1994) 
 
According to the wikia The X-Files Wiki, Chris Carter originally called fans of The X-Files "File-o-philes" before the term X-Phile was coined.X-phile on The X-Files WikiMany fans in 1994 referenced a "USA Today" interview in which Carter used the term. The X-Files Wiki also credits a man named Matt Grommes as the person who first used "X-Phile" on an early Fidonet message board. The X-Files Wiki does not provide a date or any further information. 
==Some Fan Discussion About the Term==
From a February 1994 discussion on alt.tv.x-files, one that lasted a month:
 
Some short sample excerpts from the comments:
* "Chris Carter in the USA Today article calls fans "file-o-philes" -- might be a little confusing."
* "IMHO, [file-o-philes] just plain stinks."
* "Nope! Anything with 'o' in the middle sounds like the name of some kind of cheap gadget: Ronco (tm) Dial-o-matic, Rolodex, etc."
* "For me, [File-o-philes] produces: Ugh! Yuck! No way!!!"
* "I vote for X-o-philes. My second favourite is X-tremists."
* "I will be an X-ophile if needed, but I prefer X-phile...."
* "X Fans? Blech! X Philes. It's a nice play on words."
* "'X-Filers' is OK but why not use the glaringly obvious and already semi popular "X-philes"?"
* "1) File-o-phile: PRO--preferred by creator Chris Carter CON--just too goofy. 2) X-Phile: PRO--preferred by netters CON--verbally indistinguishable from "X-file". 3) X-Philer: PRO--doesn't sound like "X-file" CON--possibility of being mispronounced as "X-Filler," which would be disasterous [sic]. 4) X-Filer: PRO--no possibility of that "X-Filler" thing CON--also a bit goofy. 5) X-ophile: PRO--nice variation of X-phile CON--also a bit goofy. some others I've seen in one or two messages: X-ite, X-Fan, X'er. All of which seem ok, but a little too generic (possibility of being confused with X-men fans)."
*"Am I the only one who doesn't care? I'm all for letting Chris Carter call us whatever he wants to call us."
*"I personally like X-Filers."
* "Personally, I think X-Filers makes you sound like some glorified file clerk in an FBI office....*snicker*"
* "Because "X-Phile" makes no phoenetic sense, as has been pointed out numerous times. Go tell someone aloud that you're an "X-phile" and see what kind of reaction you get. As long as we stick to the prinited (or displayed, I guess) word, though, it oughta do the trick."
* "1) "File-o-philes" - Basically, I think this just produces, "Huh?" 2) "X-Philes" - My personal favorite - 3) "X-ophiles" Although this eliminates the "Hi, I'm an X-file" problem, I think that it sounds sorta loopy and looks strange in type. So, I vote for "X-Philes." I don't think that the aforementioned "Hi, I'm an X-file" problem would actually be too much trouble, primarily because I don't think that I'd actually be saying, "Hi, I'm an X-Phile" aloud all that much anyway. I think that the name of the group will basically be typed ("To all you X-Philes out there," etc...) and if it looks good rollin' across my screen, that's about all I need."
* "Double yuck to Truthseekers. My vote is for X Fans."
* "My fave is for X-philes, I really like X-iles though. X-Filers is OK but it's not great."
* "First -- Chris Carter, love ya, guy, but File-o-philes is just too much like Filofax for me. Feel free to use that term in house at Ten Thirteen Productions, but I don't think it's going to fly on the Net. :-) Back at the dawn of alt.tv.x-files, we were calling ourselves X-ophiles. Correct use of suffix or not, it does provide us with a joint verbal and written means of reference. I of course like X-philes. Yes, it's a play on spellings, but hey, [...] word play is the academician's specialty. It doesn't bother me. Also: this is the *written* word here on the Net, right? Unless we get some sort of voice recognition in the next 5 years, we'll be using the name visually not vocally, unless we all get face to face. (A con! Let's have a convention!!! :-) Just Kidding, folks....)"
* "well, [ophile is] just a suffix. If you make it "X-o-phile" with the hyphen, it looks like an appliance out of a Douglas Adams novel: like veg-o-matic or something."
* "X-philer and X-Filer: Two thumbs down, for me."
* "[X-Filers] is what I was going to suggest as well. Plain, simple, and no confusion about what it refers to. Personally I don't see a real good reason to call myself anything just because I'm a fan of the show, but what the hell."
* "Of the names I have seen listed, I like X-filer best. I was using x-phile, but it is confusing if spoken. I am not a joiner, so whatever."
==Other Fannish uses of "Phile"==
While "X-Phile" is most the commonly used fannish phrase, other fans have used the term in other ways. Some examples:
* the zines ST-Phile, Biblio Phile, The Beverly File, and Beverlyophiles
* rom a fan in 1990 "I am not a huge Rikerphile, even I found it hard to see how Troi could get involved with that schumcky part Betazed when she had Riker around for casual sex and companionship." from Comlink #44
==Trivia==
Some celebrities have "outed" themselves as X-Philes in some TV specials including writers Stephen King, Harlan Ellisonhttp://harlanellison.com/buzz/bws003.htm and William Gibson as well as singer/actress Cher. Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters had a short cameo in the third-season episode Pusher and admitted that he used to have a huge crush on Gillian Anderson in a 2014 talk show while sitting next to Anderson.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDKsRSvM2YM Other prominent fans are actors Robert Patrick, Joel McHale,The X-Files Re-Opened-Special Robbie Amellhttp://www.comicbookresources.com/article/the-flashs-amell-reacts-to-shocking-x-files-finale-contemplates-more-firestorm and BNF Kumail Nanjiani who all starred or guest starred on the show.
Some showrunners and directors like J. J. Abrams,http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/05/29/jj-abrams-takes-us-to-the-fringe Bryan Fuller,http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/hannibal/25439/bryan-fuller-interview-hannibal-elegant-horror-gillian-anderson-more%25E2%2580%25A6#ixzz2ie9xCO99 Ridley Scottaccording to an anecdote told by director and Carterverse producer Rob Bowman at the Paley Festival 2009 and Zootopia director Bryon Howardhttps://twitter.com/byronphoward/status/641070138670714880?lang=en also publicly claimed to be fans of the show.
==Meta-ish perspective on Philes==
* Free Speech Is Out There: Protecting X-Phile Web Sites (1996)
* A Note about the X-Files Fandom by adieangel on tumblr (2015)
* Darkness and Light: The Psychoanalytic Dynamic of M/K Slash Fiction by MJ/MJR91 (1998)
* Don't Watch It Alone: My Wild Ride Through the X-Files Fandom by littlegreen42 on livejournal (2010)
* Porn or Fan Fiction? What is going on around here? by Daveboy on usenet (1998)
* Fear and Loathing In the Land of the X by GeckoLiz on usenet (1998)
* Fan CULTure: Essays on Participatory Fandom in the 21st Century edited by Kristin M. Barton, Jonathan Malcolm Lampley
* Being of service: X-Files fans and social engagement by Bethan Jones (2012)
===Documentaries===
* Philes and Philedom were the subjects of three documentary films. A 2000 51 minute feature titled X-Philes by Christopher Clements and Maria Bowens who visited X-Files Conventions‎ and interviewed several fans.http://www.indieflix.com/Films/XPhiles
* X-Philes - Ils voulaient croire is an 90-minute French fan documentary about The X-Files and it's fans from 2016.
* The Fans Are Out There is an 2017 18 minute documentary created by an X-Files fandom vidder and focuses on the fans, the fandom and features interviews of a handful of female fans.http://spookyverse.de/wiki/X-Phile#Dokumentationen
==See also==
* Fan run Charity actions by Philes
==References==
Category:X-Files Fandom Glossary
Category:1990s
Category:2000s
Category:2010s