Yes Virginia

Yes Virginia was a private mailing list for X-Files fanfiction writers. It was most active from 1999 to 2001. It was started by Sabine and ultimately moderated by Punk.
 
The mailing list is named after a song written by one of Sabine’s college friends. It originated when Sabine needed to step back from fandom because of a real-world job, but wanted to keep in touch, and to create a brain-trust of like-minded writers, who were going to not only keep her hand in in fandom, but help feed her ideas for the real-world job.
Many of those on the list were professional writers in their day-jobs, or aspired to be. They took writing very seriously, but not themselves. They were dedicated to improving their own writing and helping all of the group's members to improve as well. (Or really anyone in fandom that asked them for help.) It was a supportive and collaborative environment where everyone got feedback from multiple betas on every story they wrote.
The group was well-represented in the Spooky Awards over many years and has had multiple fics placed in the Crack Van and dissected at X-Files Book Club, The Reading Group for X-Files fanfiction on LJ.
The group only ever had to expel one member over the course of its existence, for fraud, as she had joined for the sole purpose of spying for another group.
The group is still together, despite the death of Sabine. Most have moved on from writing fic, though some keep their hand in in other fandoms than X-files. Several are published authors under non-fanfiction names or pseudonyms. They still beta for each other with regularity on everything from business proposals to novels to magazine articles to any other writing of importance.
If YV stands for anything, it stands for fic creating lifelong friendships and supportive writing relationships that have endured now for 20-plus years. Many members see each other frequently and travel to visit one another, sometimes from other continents. Many still speak to one another daily via social media.
==Machete Beta==
The group invented a style of unflinching beta called machete beta. Members could request either machete, or traditional beta, if they weren't feeling up to something quite so pointed. Most opted for machete all the time and it showed in their writing. Sabine and Punk, frequent collaborators, were especially known for their mighty adverb-killing powers, making everyone's writing clearer and more concise.
==Cult of the Jebuslug==
The group also created Cult of the Jebuslug out of disgust at the horrible turn the X-files took in Season 8 and specifically the episode “Roadrunners”. The site was funny enough to have gotten the coveted “Cool Site of the Day”. It was mostly fake filk-hymns and episode reviews written in the POV of the (holy, sacred) slug that got pulled from Scully’s spine. There were reviews for all of season 8 and part of season 9 until the YVers mostly gave up the show in mutual disgust. There were also many contributors to this project from outside the YV group, who are credited in the slug hymnal, in particular.
==Baby Kill-a-Thon==
They were also notorious for having a Mulder and Scully baby kill-a-thon, where most members contributed their version of how William was done away with. Many of these fics were highly regarded in the fandom.
==Members==
Frequent collaborations came out of this group with members teaming up to co-write longer pieces or epic series such as the cofax7, marasmus, fialka and others series Life During Wartime.
YV Members included: Founder Sabine, Legacy Owner Punk, Members: M.Sebasky, CazQ, Wen, Livia Balaban, Marasmus, Fialka, Cofax, Sarah Ellen Parsons, Kelly Keil, Winson Paine, Lena, EPurSeMouve, JHJ Armstrong, Jess Mabe, Lysandra, JET, Galia, Luperkal, Alicia K., August, Perelandra, Tarysande and others.
==Some Fan Comments==
==A Discussion About: "Yes Virginia" -- "Debbilmice" -- The Wicked X Witches of Badfic Punishment==
In September 2000, an emotional discussion occurred that included: fans confusing several X-Files fan groups, statements that not publicly standing up against one list was approval of another, privacy and security, witch hunts and whisper campaigns, censorship, and more. Namely, the Yes, Virginia group was accused as a group of secretly being the Wicked X Witches. A witch hunt ensued and several of the group were thrown out of mailing lists and blackballed in parts of the fandom, leading to the rest of the group being accused as well. The example below is a tiny fraction of the reams and reams of ink spilled on this subject.
==References==
Category:X-Files Mailing Lists