The X-Files

You may be looking for The X-Files (zine).
X-Files is the subject of FanloreProject:X-Files. 
The X-Files is an American science fiction/fantasy television series created by Chris Carter and starring Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny that initially ran from September 10, 1993 to May 19, 2002. There have been two accompanying major film releases: The X-Files: Fight the Future in 1998, and The X-Files: I Want To Believe in 2008. In 2016 a six episode event series aired from January 24th to February 22nd.
The premise of the series and films is the investigation of paranormal cases (x-files) conducted by FBI special agents Fox Mulder, an Oxford-educated psychologist, and Dana Scully, a medical doctor. While Mulder is willing to give credence to supernatural or fantastic explanations for the cases that he and Scully investigate, Scully is skeptical and will first look to science for answers. They report directly to Assistant Director Walter Skinner, whose patience is constantly taxed by Mulder's flippant insubordination.
Over the course of nine seasons, The X-Files developed a famously complex mythology arc, or "mytharc," involving a government conspiracy to conceal the existence and activities of extraterrestrial beings. The Syndicate behind this conspiracy was associated with many shady characters, including Alex Krycek, Marita Covarrubias, and operatives who were never given proper names and simply referred to by epithets such as Cigarette Smoking Man (CSM), and Well-Manicured Man (WMM).
==Waves==
There are three distinct periods of fannish activity for X-Files. The dates in-between these waves doesn't mean there weren't fans or fanworks being created, but that fannish activity had slowed. 
:See: Timeline of The X-Files Fandom
===Wave 1===
Wave 1: roughly 1993-2003. it featured, among other things, the first-run episodes, Usenet newsgroups, Haven, Ephemeral, and the Gossamer era.
===Wave 2===
Wave 2: roughly 2008-2011. It featured the IWTB movie revival and was part of the LiveJournal era.
===Wave 3===
Wave 3: began in 2015. It is based on the series' revival and its platform is Tumblr, Twitter, blogs and podcasts.
 
In March 2015, it was announced that The X-Files miniseries, a continuation of the original series would have a six-episode run on network television starting January 24, 2016. On May 15th the order for another 10 episodes in a 11th season has been announced starting January 3rd, 2018.
From a fan: 
==X-Files Fandom: First Wave==
Fan activity surrounding The X-Files started on usenet and dates back to December 1993, with the creation of alt.tv.x-files.alt.tv.x-files on Google Groups ATXF's fic-friendly counterpart, alt.tv.x-files.creative, was founded in May 1994.alt.tv.x-files.creative on Google Groups.
__TOC__
Several more usenet groups and multiple private and public mailing lists developed from The X-Files' central fandom on alt.tv.x-files and alt.tv.x-files.creative.
Yes Virginia was one such group, later credited for developing a high critical standard of editing, or beta. See Machete Beta.
Other mailing lists include EMXC, XAPEN, PhoeniXFic, XFF, FicTalk, X-Files Creative, Scullyfic, and WhyIncision.
One recommendation site, created in the mid-nineties, is IOHO. Another was Sparky's Doghouse. Chronicle X was also a popular website, now defunct, that offered a small archive of favorite stories as well as links to authors' pages and specialty archives. The site was well known for its twice monthly interviews with fanfic writers.
An overview of these early online fannish activities, complete with sample episode guides, show commentary and fan fiction can be found at the textfiles directory.
X-Files had a huge number of specialized fic archives, each catering to a different target audience. It wasn't unusual to have MSR archives that dealt specifically with stories where Mulder and Scully were forced to share a bed, or stories where they took baths together. Free sites like Tripod and GeoCities made it easy to throw together such specialized archives. Consequently, most of these sites were lost when the hosts went under or were bought out.
The fandom had several fan-run awards, including the Spookys, Morleys, Starbucks and Whammys, that honored excellence in fanfic.
From a fan in 2017: 
 
In late 2023, a fan ran a poll asking fans to vote on their favorite ship. Star Trek's Kirk/Spock beat out The X-Files. A fan commented on this survey and explained how the two fandoms represented "two sea changes in fandom that are both equally deserving to be in the annals of fandom history, but reflect two fundamentally different ecosystems." This ecosystem was the very newly formed "World Wide Web": 
===Some Fan Fiction Firsts===
* Like a Shepherd, possibly first piece of X-Files fan fiction, posted to the Internet on January 13, 1994. It was a Forever Knight/X-Files crossover written by Lisa Payne. 
* Fooms by Glenn Wallace was posted May 1, 1994. It was probably the second piece of X-Files fan fiction posted to the Net. 
* Beyond the Sea Monster by Gail Celio was posted May 24, 1994. It was probably the third piece of X-Files fan fiction posted to the Net. It was a humorous piece and an X-Files/Scooby-Doo crossover.
* Mulder and/or Scully death stories, Jen Chism's "Always and Forever," a Mulder-death story, was posted Jan 5, 1995 - Idria Barone Knecht's "Madman Across the Water". The archive date on it is April 3, 1995 - "Swan Song" in fall of 1995 XF Fanfic History - First Times (May 3, 1999) 
* Pleasant Dreams by Laura Cooksey was the first m/m story posted, it featured Mulder and an original character (May 1995)
* Krychek was the first Mulder/Krycek fic posted to the internet, July 15, 1995
* Authority by Laura Cooksey, posted October 25, 1995, was the the first Mulder/Skinner fic. 
*The Sound Of Windchimes, written in 1995, was an early, influential Mulder/Scully story.
* Cold by CiCi was the first Scully/Marita fic (June 16, 1997)
* see a List of Very Early X-Files Fanfiction
===The Term "Shipping"===
X-Files, and its time place in history as one of the first big internet fandoms, is often regarded as the fandom that started formal shipping.
The term originated in the X-Files fandom, probably on alt.tv.x-files.creative, where viewers who wanted to see a romantic relationship between Fox Mulder and Dana Scully were dubbed "relationshippers," or "shippers." 
One early use of the term was in April 1996; a fan describes her story as something "I think that everyone, both R'shipper's and Non R'shipper's alike, can enjoy this story. :D." NEW: TITLE 17 [1/1], post by Amy Schatz, April 20, 1996 
Another fan in 1996 posted: "It comes to my attention that there is a great deal of misunderstanding as to what exactly it is that we "relationshippers" want in the show. To say that we want Mulder and Scully to simply fall into bed together like would happen on any other show on TV is unfair, and patently untrue...One of the reasons we 'shippers have kept to ourselves for so long is because every time we dare to bring our opinions forth, we get words that we never spoke shoved into our mouths and then we get flamed for them..." Clarification (was Re: My problem with 'anti-relationshippers'....), Eric Johns, May 17, 1996 
From a fan in 2006: 
From a fan in 2008: 
===A Fandom of Fannish Acronyms and Terminology===
Starting in 1994, the x-files Usenet group (alt.tv.x-files) began compiling list of fannish acronyms used in X-Files fandom. Some examples: E.B.E. (Extraterrestrial Biological Entity) and ISS (Infamous Speedo Scene, referring to a scene in where Mulder emerges from the pool wearing a very skimpy pair of Speedos.) See Speedos - Acronyms explained - alt.tv.x-files on Google Groups. Another 1994 link: 20 Questions To Be Read Before Posting + YAXA List; archive link.
This 2000 list at alt.tv.x-files is very extensive: X-PLAINING ATXF part 3: acronyms and inside jokes.
This is a list from 2000 posted to the website: Working Stiffs: What is this alphabet soup I see in every story?
This list from 2001 is also very extensive: 
See :Category:X-Files Fandom Glossary.
===Initial Lack of Discussion and Interest in Slashing the Male Characters ===
Comments about the about the lack of "slashable" characters in X-Files was a common topic.
In February 1994, a fan in the wrote in Strange Bedfellows (APA), a very slash-centric apa, about the lack of slash potential in the show but was optimistic about how it could be used in crossovers: 
Some February 1995 comments:
Some May 1995 comments:
 
Fans were very slow to even consider and/or mention Walter Skinner. The first speculation of slashing Skinner and Mulder in a slash apa, whose members were actively looking for slash relationships was in February 1996: 
In March 1999, a fan speculated on when the first Mulder/Skinner story was written: 
In fact, the first known Mulder/Skinner story was Authority, written in December 1995.
Even after the character, Alex Krycek was introduced, fans were slow to show interest in his slash potential.
===The Topic of Slash As It Applied to Mulder/Scully===
Some fans were concerned that male/female relationships such as Mulder/Scully would eliminate m/m slash all together. 
From a fan in August 1994: 
From a fan in November 1994: 
Comments from May 1995:
 
From a fan in 1996: 
From a fan in 1997: 
===Initial Exploration of Other Pairings===
===A Fandom of Intense Media Interest===
.
The X-Files' popularity, combined with the rising influence and availability of the internet, and the interest in fandom fanned by books such as Textual Poachers and Enterprising Women, made the show a media and press darling. There was an explosion in the number of articles in mainstream publications that attempted to explain this "new" thing called fanfiction. See :Category:Perspectives on Fans for more information.
In 1998 chat hosted by msn the lead actors talked about the numerous X-Files websites:
In a 2015 Gizmodo article, X-Files was credited with having spurred a new type of online fandom:
The philedom were also subject of three documentaries (X-Philes by Christopher Clements and Maria Bowens in 2000, X-Philes - Ils voulaient croire in 2016 and The Fans Are Out There in 2017) as well as creator Chris Carter (the 40 minute documentary The Joy of Xhttps://digiguide.tv/programme/Documentary/The-Joy-of-X/55013/).
===Cease & Desist===
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X-Files was a fandom that stood at the threshold of fandom's migration to the Internet and experienced maybe the first salvo in the "World Wide Web War Against Fandom". In the early-1990s few fans had the resources to host and design their own websites so fandom was concentrated to a few main archives and fan websites. "The X-Files, X-Philes and X-philia: Internet fandom as a site of convergence" by Amanda Howell (2000) By the mid-1990s, as technology and Internet access improved, more fan sites began appearing By 1997, there were 900 unofficial X-Files websites leading 20th Century Fox to launch a legal campaign against the use of images and sound files from its two more popular TV shows: The Simpsons , The X-Files, and Millennium HotWired (1997)] .
Perhaps because of the new participatory power of the Internet, X-Files fandom did not take the assault lying down. They quickly organized themselves into a viral pro-fandom campaign called "Free Speech Is Out There: Protecting X-Phile Web Sites." When Lucasfilm began targeting Star Wars fan websites that same year, fandom realized that this was this was not an isolated act by a single studio.
Even industry magazines took notice. E-Online reported:
Other fandoms and TV shows were pulled into the battle, with 20th Century Fox shifting its focus to its then ratings impaired TV show Millennium HotWired (1997)] and with Viacom targeting Star Trek websites. (1996)]
In the "War Against Fandom", one commentator astutely noted:
See some protest banners created by fans: .
A fan in October 1995 on a mailing list said: 
By 1997, the phrase "Foxed" had become a techno verb "used to describe a Web site threatened with legal action for copyright infringement." Blue's News, November 26, 1997
===Links to Then Current Sites===
* Infomania, compiled by Ola Mårtensson (many, many links, though most are dead)
==Conflicts==
===General Fannish Mayhem===
A fan in 2016 wrote a response to a Tumblr ask: 
In 1997, there was intense turmoil regarding FicTalk (and X-Files-Fanfic) that involved plagiarism, who owns what list, access to fiction and lists, flaming, open letters, power moves, censorship, personal disagreements, unsubscribing...
** Joining other xf fanfic mailing lists; archive link, January 17, 1997 
** an open letter to the chaos.taylored.com mailing lists; archive link, June 28, 1997
** an open letter to the chaos.taylored.com mailing lists; archive link, a second post, June 29, 1997
** Mailing lists and Archives and Usenet...; archive link, June 29, 1997
** An open letter to ATXCarchive link, June 30, 1997
Further reading:
* X-Files Wank: 1996-2000
===Conflict: Old Characters Depart, New Characters Arrive===
The addition of new characters to the show often disrupted fandom and sparked flamewars as fans took sides. 
Season five's The End marked the introduction of Agent Diana Fowley as an ex-coworker -- and just plain ex -- of Mulder's. Many Mulder/Scully shippers saw her as a threat and responded accordingly. 
But that small upset was nothing compared to the backlash that took place when Mulder more or less left after season seven and Agent John Doggett and Agent Monica Reyes joined Scully in the x-files office in the eighth season. Many fans were upset over this development, but some took it to extremes. One example was the short-lived 2001 website The DoggShit Website. 
Laurie Haynes, owner of the X-Files Creative mailing list and its archive Xemplary, went so far as to refuse to archive fics with Doggett in them and viciously bashed Doggett in public forums. xfc: Change in Xemplary policy, Mar 6 2001. This brought up a lot of questions about creative expression and censorship. See Ban of Doggettfic. At the time, XFC was one of the largest mailing lists in fandom and fans resented being told they had to ignore a significant part of canon in order to be able to post there.
===Duchovny Fans vs. Anderson Fans (aka "My star is better than your star")===
In the late 1990s and early 2000s there was a noticeably tendency between fans of one of the two actors to pit the other act (and their fans) against their favourite. From this period the derogatory term Silly Gilly was coined to describe (the often younger and predominantly female) fans of Gillian Anderson. It's notable that in the Gillian Anderson fan community no term was ever created to call a Duchovny fan names.
On message boards like the IMDB boards (which were infamous for their high troll quota) those users often trolled the board of the other actor by opening provocative threads title like "[Actor] is overrated, a bad actor, a bad mother (usually only Anderson's parenting skills were questioned), a one trick pony, has has plastic surgery, needs plastic surgery, is too fat/thin (again, only Anderson weight was mentioned)/ looks old, etc.". 
Boards like the David Duchovny Fans message board feature an extra off-topic section called "The Dumpster" were users could attack Anderson, Chris Carter, Frank Spotnitz (calling him Aunt Frank) and other people to their heart's delight. This area was also especially used to attack snoggers or people who were suspected to be snoggers because they proclaimed to be a fan of both Anderson and Duchovny (which in the eyes of some was impossible and thus those people had to be closeted snoggers). Anderson and her fans were also called lesbians as an insult. 
One hypothesized reason for this fights could be the different structures of the two fandoms of the actors (based on available pictures of fans posing the actors during that time): In the beginning the Anderson fan was the "typical" Sci-Fi geek male fan boy who focused on Anderson's sex appeal, which later, especially in the late 1990s and early 2000s moved to younger female fans where Duchovny's fan base consists more of older, usually back then already middle aged and conservative (compared to the Anderson fan base, which could also explain why calling somebody a lesbian was considered being an insult by Duchovny fans) female fans. Erin M. Blair, who openly posted RPF fan fiction was a regular and welcome target for a certain group of Duchovny fans.
User from this community even went so far to register at the Shipper Sanctum and taunt fans there. One user who used variants of the user name Pippy was especially infamous in the fandom http://snoggerheaven.livejournal.com/ for her behaviour in "defending" Duchovny and Téa Leoni by putting Anderson down every time and everywhere she could.
Since the second wave and the raise of Gillovny in the fandom mainstream, the behaviour to pit one actor against the other seem to have thankfully died out or the most active spearheads have by now left the fandom.
===Conflict: Archiving and Archives===
When The X-Files first began airing, fans had three choices regarding the distribution of their fanworks. They could send it in hard copy, print form to their friends via the postal service, something fans had been doing for decades. They could send their fanworks to fans who created print zines, another decade's old custom. But fans of The X-Files had a new option: Usenet, specifically alt.tv.x-files.creative, a mailing list that allowed fans to distribute their fiction on a much wider basis. 
This new fannish territory also opened up many discussions regarding permissions, distribution, and the archiving of fiction in completely new ways. 
When a fan posted their fiction to the mailing list, it was automatically archived via ftp at the fledgling site Gossamer. Only fanworks that had a note to specifically NOT be archived were not included. A list of some ftp sites in early 1995: .
As fan's online access increased, and fans began taking advantage of free web hosting provided by companies such as Tripod and Angelfire to created their own webpages, archiving fiction became a free-for-all. Many, many fans who wrote fic understood this, and simply asked that when their fiction was archived somewhere that they only required that all headers and credits be included. 
When fans realized they had other options than simply being archived at Gossamer, they began to get much pickier about who was able to archive, or simply post links to, their fiction. There were many, many discussions, often very, very heated, about fan's "rights" to read fiction as opposed to fan's "rights" to control where their fiction was read. 
As shipping wars and other conflicts heated up, these fights became quite personal. A lot of these early archives had titles that reflected their hoped for safe-retreat from the main archives' higher visibility, and by some defaults, greater hassles: "Idealist's Haven" is one example. 
As soon as archives became more specialized, challenges to fans became more numerous. While Gossamer did not police its fiction regarding content, it had grown huge and the frequency of updates to it became a source of contention. Fans with smaller archives could be more nimble, and while these smaller archives appealed to fans who wanted to read things in a narrower focus, there was much gate-keeping. 
There were also many discussions regarding who "owned" archives, and the responsibilities of these owners. 
 
Some examples of early fan discussion regarding archives and archiving: 
* , scroll down for the main discussion (July 1998) 
* Question for Authors (October 1998)
* What's With IOHO? (June 1999)
Sometime around 2020, a fan wrote: 
===Conflict: Fanwork Content (Shipping, RPF, Slash, Explicit)===
* the conflicts regarding the character of John Doggett, including the DoggShit Website
* discussion regarding X-Files RPF
* Noromos vs MSR vs slash
===Conflict: Will Equal Partnerships and Complex Portrays of Dana Scully Be the End of Slash?===
 
===Conflict: Fanwork Concrit and Reviews===
* The Wicked X Witches of Badfic Punishment and similar sites
===The Chris Carter Effect, and Canon Failures===
See The Chris Carter Effect.
The X-Files was a show that got in over its head regarding canon continuity and expectations. 
Fans constantly complained of storylines that went nowhere, revelations that hit walls, poor continuity, lack of character development, constant use of the reset button, increasingly bizarre complications that promised much but delivered little, and general perceived ineptness and cohesion regarding the overall mytharc.
Some fan comments:
[2000]: 
[2002]: 
[2009]: 
[2013]: 
[2014]: 
[2015]: 
===Conflict: Sockpuppets, Harassment===
* Debbilmice
* (January 1999)
===Conflict: Other=== 
* The Acid Desk and its anonymous 1998 gossip
* X-Ville
* Ordover Wars
* The X-Rated X-Files (Brills Content article, May 2000)
==Fans in Canon==
Some Tuckerization:
In the second season episode Little Green Men, the plane manifest that Scully is scanning while searching for Mulder lists several online X-Files fans as passengers, including Cliff Chen and Pat Gonzales.X-Files In-Jokes: Season Two
In May 2001, in the episode Alone, Agent Leyla Harrison was introduced as a tribute to Leyla Harrison, a popular fanfic writer who had passed away in February 2001. In 2002, Agent Harrison returned in the ninth season episode Scary Monsters.
Starting in the ninth season, the show got a new opening credit sequence during which a document headed "FBI Contacts, Witnesses and Contributors" could be seen. Every episode had a slightly different list of names, many of which belonged to online fans, including FrogDoggie, Deslea, sistaspooky, and PaigeCald.Fan Names in the S9 Credits
==Ships, Pairings and NoRomos==
The X-Files is regarded as the fandom that started formal shipping. Fans who did not support a romantic or sexual relationship between Mulder and Scully were called NoRomos. The conflicts between these two factions were legendary. For an explanation of one of the many, many discussions, see X-Files Wank: 1996-2000.
 
Some pairs:
* Mulder/Scully
* Mulder/Krycek
* Mulder/Skinner
* Scully/Skinner
* Krycek/Marita
* Krycek/Other
* Doggett/Reyes
* Skinner/Krycek
* Scully/Krycek 
* Scully/Doggett 
* Scully/Reyes
* Scully/Other
* Mulder/Other
* Mulder/Scully/Krycek
* Mulder/Scully/Skinner
* Skinner/Doggett
* Skinner/Other
==RPF/Actorfic==
Early X-Files fandom did not embrace RPF or "actorfic" as it was known then. Even with the increasing popularity of popslash and bandom, X-Files fandom has been resistant to change and RPF is still considered taboo in many X-Files communities.
See X-Files RPF for some history, fan comments, and some examples.
==Interviews with Fans==
See :Category: X-Files Fan Interviews.
==Fanworks==
===Popular Genres in X-Files Fanworks===
* Casefic and X-File
* MSR
* other
===Popular Tropes in X-Files Fanworks===
The show and fandom created quite a few tropes and genre of it's own. Please see X-Files Tropes & Genres for details.
*Fuck or Die/Aliens Made Them Do It: Characters are forced to engage in sexual intercourse, usually by aliens, madmen, or members of the conspiracy. This would often occur in captivity, sometimes with the help of chemical stimulants. 
*One motel room/Bed Sharing: Oh no, there's only one room left! Characters have to share a motel room, and often a bed. This actually happened to Mulder and Scully in the sixth season episode The Rain King when Mulder's motel room was destroyed by a flying cow. He moved his stuff into Scully's room, but the show didn't bother to explain the sleeping arrangements. Fans happily filled the gap with dozens of missing scene fics.Sharing a Hotel Room
*Undercover: Characters go undercover, often posing as a couple, in order to investigate crime or paranormal activity. This was a popular cliche long before season six's Arcadia saw Mulder and Scully moving into a gated community as husband and wife, wearing a pink polo shirt and a twin set, respectively. These fics could be light-hearted and romantic, or dark and angsty. In Parrotfish's award-winning Caught in the Act III: Sub Rosa, Mulder and Scully go undercover to infiltrate a white supremacist militia group and find themselves in over their heads.Going Undercover
*Quarantine: Exposed to alien spores or unknown toxins? Time to be locked up in quarantine together. This got an early start on the show. In the first season, Mulder and Scully are exposed to a nasty insect in Darkness Falls and after being rescued are confined to a secure quarantine facility in order to regain their strength. This bit of canon influenced a lot of fanfic, encouraging fans to write their own quarantine fics and post-eps for episodes like Ice, Field Trip, Firewalker, and of course Darkness Falls itself.Quarantined Together
*Bodyswap: Characters swap bodies. This, too, happened on the show, in the season six two-parter Dreamland, but in that episode Mulder swapped bodies with Morris Fletcher, who was not a series regular. Fans are more likely to write stories where the main characters swap bodies.
*Eggbeater: From a notorious challenge, "exactly 500 words and an eggbeater."
*Apocalypse: It's the end of the world, for so many, many reasons. Post-Colonization was always popular.
*Case fic: Many stories mimicked the show by creating a mystery for Mulder and Scully to solve. (see X-File (genre))
* songfics and fic inspired by music by Melissa Etheridge, see Dance Without Sleeping for notable example
*forehead touching (see Forehead sex): In the X-Files world, kisses happen very seldom, instead forehead touching became popular
*Canon Divergence AU: often attempted by Fan fiction writer to "fix" Chris Carter's canon.
*Accidental confession: under influence or in argument an accidental declares their love for the other
==Fanworks==
=== Fanzines ===
X-Files was one of the first fandoms where the majority of fan activity happened online. As a result, the number of fanzines in the fandom does not reflect the size and breadth of fannish participation. A list of the X-files fanzines in print can be found X-Files Fanzines on Fanlore and at List of X-Files Fanzines.
===Fanfic Archives===
Besides the major archive project Gossamer, X-Files fandom boasted a wide variety of specialty archives at the height of its popularity.Lists of specialized archives: The X-Files Lost and Found FAQ, X-Files Fan-Fiction Alphabetized Links, Specialized Archives Archives existed for characters, pairings, genres (both XF-specific such as Muldertorture or Profiler!Mulder as well as panfandom ones such as AUs), kinks, ratings and formats. Many have since vanished, but others are still online. 
fanthropology reports that the first two X-Files fan fic archives were Rutgers (September 1994) and X-Files fan fiction ftp archiveSee Fan History Wiki's entry on the website: archived at the Wayback Machine (August 1994) both of which predated the popular Gossamer archive.Fan Fiction Archives dated May 23, 2007; WebCite.
The specialty archives included:
*The Acacia Archive -- NoRomo archive 
*After the Fact -- defunct post-ep archive (WB machine link)
*All Around Angst Archive (Angsty adult X Files fiction)
*All Things Rat -- (Alex Krycek fic, pics, artwork & more)
*Alternate Season 8 (fan-produced AU fic episodes)
*The Animal Files -- animal stories 
*The Annex -- novel-length fanfic 
*The Basement -- slash archive 
*BSU: Behavioral Sciences Unit -- defunct Profiler!Mulder archive (WB machine link)
*Chemical Reaction -- Skinner/Doggett archive 
*Ephemeral (X Files fanfic auto archive)
*Gertie's X-Files MSR FanFic Archive 
*GilliAnd (bilingual site with stories in English and Russian)
*Hiraeth Archive (Mulder/Scully stories)
*The I in FBI -- defunct casefile archive (WB machine link)
*M/K Slash" target="_blank (Mulder/Krycek slash)
*MKRA -- Mulder/Krycek archive
*Mulder In Jeopardy -- Muldertorture Archive 
*Muldertorture Anonymous -- Muldertorture Archive 
*The Nursery Files -- Child/Baby/Pregnancy/Parenting Related Archive
*The Oncology Ward - Cancer-arc fics featuring Agent Scully
*previous eXcursions -- pre-XF stories
*RATales Archive -- Krycek-centric 
*RatB -- Mulder/Krycek archive
*Red Light District -- slash rated R/NC-17 
*Romo and ANgST -- specialised archive
*Scully Angst Archive -- defunct Scully angst archive (WB machine link)
*Scully Slash Archive -- Scully slash 
*Scuttlebutts -- defunct Skinner/Scully archive (WB machine link)
*Semper Fi -- Scully/Doggett archive 
*Skipper Tales -- Scully/Krycek archive 
*The SKSA (Skinner/Krycek slash archive)
*Slashing Mulder -- Mulder slash archive
*The Slipper Archive -- slash rated PG-13 or less 
*Strange Realities: the X-files Alternate Universe Archive
*Ter/Ma -- Mulder/Krycek archive 
*Two Close for Comfort --The X-Files Stuck!Fic Archive
*Virtual Season X (AU episode fic starting from season 7)
*The Vision (Dogget/Reyes fanfiction)
*WArm thoughts -- Skinner/Krycek archive 
*WetFic! -- for stories featuring rain, baths, showers, lakes, swimming pools, oceans, hot tubs, car washes, etc.
*Whispers of X (adult X Files stories) 
*Xanadu X Files Fan Fiction (organized by author)
*XFSM Archive -- defunct BDSM archive (WB machine link)
*X-Philes For Christ -- defunct Christian fanfic archive (WB machine link)
===Notable Fanfic===
Also see :Category:X-Files Fanfiction.
From a fan in 1999: "The only reason for fanfic (in my mind) is to allow us to live in the world CC won't let us have." from X-Files Fanfic Addiction Site Interview with MD1016 
*12 Degrees of Separation and its prequel, 12 Rites of Passage, both by Paula Graves
*The Absence of Memory by Narida Law
*Abuse of Power by Ian Horsewell
*All the Mulders by Alloway, more science fiction influenced than most MSR fic.
*Argus by Jintian (2001)
*Authority, online here (October 1995) by Laura Cooksey is the first Mulder/Skinner slash fic posted to the internet.
*Blinded by White Light, by Dasha K
*Cold by DBKate (Scully/Marita) (1997) 
*Diet Coke by Romana Clef
*The Great Dane & The Teacup Poodle by The Tenth Muse (1998)
*Ghosts, by torch
*God's Work by Jintian
*The Iolokus Series, by RivkaT and MustangSally
*Krychek by Brenda Antrim is the first posted Mulder/Krycek fic posted (July 31, 1996). The author's spelling of this story was never corrected.
*Last Light by Agent Haines and Agent Willis
*Oklahoma, by Amperage and Livengoo
*Pleasant Dreams, online here (May 1995) by Laura Cooksey is the first slash X-Files fic posted to the internet. It features Mulder and an OMC. The author describes it not so much a story, but a vignette.
*Practice by Alelou
*The Round File, by YouKneek, an X-Files RPF - One of the few RPFs accepted by X-Files fandom, mostly due to its humorous and non-sexual nature.
*Sixty Degrees of Separation by Barbara D.
*The Soft Embalmer by Scarlet.
*Tevilah by bugs
* a weatherman to know which way the wind blows by zauberer_sirin
*World Without End, by Rachel Anton (1999-2001)
===Fanart===
*various X-Files fanart on FanPop 
*XPhilesAnonmynous group on DeviantArt 
*The X-Philes group on DeviantArt
*The X-Files Poster Project on tumblr 
*Fan Art featured on the official X-Files page on FOX.com
*X-Files Animated by Cartoonishly (YouTube-Playlist)
File:Maikeldas xfiles gal10.jpg|CW: Spiders, by Maikel Das
===Fanvids===
From a fan: 
* Patterns by Cybel Harper (early Mulder vid)
* Close to You by The Chicago Loop (humorous rare 4th-wall breaker)
* Subterranean Homesick Blues by Luminosity and Tzikeh
* Rook by Laura Shapiro 
* Only Happy When It Rains by Media Cannibals 
* Mood Swinging Man by Jill & Kay of JKL 
* Scar by Kay of JKL (a rare Krycek vid that is solely about Krycek the character)
* Nobody Takes Me Seriously by Media Cannibals
* Fall in the Light by Media Cannibals (Scully vid)
* Patterns by Carol S. (Mulder vid)
* We Care a Lot by Carol S. (ensemble vid of the badguys in the X-Files mytharc)
* Tainted Love by Media Cannibals (OTT Mulder/Krycek vid. Katharine said she got the idea at least partially after seeing Randym's "Tainted Love" listed as a M/K song on the MKRA webpage.)
* There's No Way Out of Here by Media Cannibals (multimedia vid that compares Scully with Nikita and Buffy)
* Not Only Human by Killa and Laura Shapiro (Scully vid)
* Have You Seen Me Lately by Lyle (Scully cancer-arc)
* Move (Scully-centric)
After the show ended, some fans continued to make vids and share them online. Here are a few archived websites
*DamnBee.org X-Files Vids, dated around 2001
*Music Videos by Deslea, vids date from 2002 onward 
* 
Other songvids by fans can be found under the vidder's name here on Fanlore. A few VCR-era songvids are listed below where the vidder's name cannot be identified:
*"Ghostbuster"
===Filk===
*Playlist on YouTube
*X-Files: The Musical by the The Colonel Mustard Amateur Attic Theatre Company (2011)
*My Favorite X-Files!- Funny MSR and Sing-Along Parody by dqmargerit
*My Favorite X-Files by Li'l Red's Fangirl Raps
*In X-Files 3 by dqmargerit (about #XF3)
*I Wanna Believe! An X-Files Parody Musical by the Chicago based The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, which ran from April 25, 2019 until July 25, 2019 
Some more filks are here: 
Filks archived at X-Files University are here.
==Archives==
*Biani - a collection of fic was part of the virtual world created by fans Bianca and Dani
==Awards==
*Mark of X-cellence. Links to award-winning stories, including the winners of the Spooky, EMXC, Starbuck, Morley, and Whammy awards.
*The Wirerims . Awards for best Walter Skinner stories, including slash, gen, and het works. 
* Purple Heart Awards - MulderTorture Anonymous - Categories include vintage (pre-October 97), current, and slash. First annual (1998) awards are available. 
*Lisa e Krysa. Archive and awards for Mulder/Krycek slash fiction. 
*X-Files Fanfic Olympics. Links to gold medal winners for 1999 and winners of the "Hit By A Grease Truck" awards. 
*Spooky Awards - 1995-2000. Archive of winning stories for the year, selected from fiction posted to the alt.tv.x-files.creative news group. 
*Whammy Awards - 1997-1999. Awards for slash net fic.
==LJ Communities==
Discussion:
*xfiles -- large general discussion community
*XF Book Club on LiveJournal and List of Stories Discussed
Recs & Ficfinding:
*xfstoryfinders -- storyfinder comm
*xf_ficrecs
Fanfic, all kinds:
*xfilesfanfic
Slash:
*x_files_slash
MSR:
*shipper
*msrfanfic
Art & Multimedia:
*xf_fanfilm Vids
*xfiles_art
*xf_icons
==Mailing Lists==
See List of X-Files Mailing Lists (for mailing lists that currently don't have a Fanlore page).
See :Category:X-Files Mailing Lists (for mailing lists that have a Fanlore page).
==Fan Theories==
*Scully is immortal
*MSR baby 2 is a girl
*Wifegate and Ringgate
==Fandom Myths==
*The Post-Modern Prometheus Kiss Scene
==Resources==
*Eat The Corn
*David and Gillian Archive
*Inside The X
*Rohan's X-Files Realm
*The X-Files Experience
*The X-Files Music.com
*The X-Files Screen Grab Archive
*The X-Files Lexicon
*XFilesNews
*XF Road Runners
*X-Review
*Xfvids
*Trajan's Warehouse
==Fan-Written Meta ==
* The Vault: writing archive for ATX
* Dealing With It; WebCite, a set of five essays by Charlotte P. D. Price (1995-1997)
* Why the "Moonlighting" Argument is a Fallacy by Dianora (1997) 
* two essays: "Dana by Darwin" and "Triumvirate"; WebCite by Barbara Ruef (1997)
* Dear Mr. Chris Carter. The X-Files is boring... I'm resigning my fan girl membership so I can go and play in the Babylon 5 sandbox instead... by Yvonne Harrison, (1998)
* A Caution About Public Criticism (1998)
* The Passage of Time by Leah2 (an essay about the "Twin Peaks/X-Files reality puzzle") (May 2000)
* I've been reading back in the old Gossamer X-Files fanfic..., essay by Sam Starbuck (2002)
* untitled essay by jeviltwin (2002)
* X-Files Wank: 1996-2000 by cschick (2006)
* by elliotsmelliott (2011)
* Fannish discourse communities and the construction of gender in The X-Files by Emily Regan Wills (2013) 
* X-Files Meta, meta series by PlaidAdder (2014-2016)
* , In Media Res (2015)
* , In Media Res (2015)
* A Note about the X-Files Fandom (2015)
* 201 Days of The X-Files (reviews, fanart, meta, The X-Files Poster Project) (2015-1016)
*“You’re still obsessed with The X-Files? I don’t get it, it’s just a TV show.” by campaignofmisinformation (2017)
==Academic Commentary==
* Creating a Pocket Universe: "Shippers," Fan Fiction, and "The X-Files" Online
* Estrogen Brigades and "Big Tits" Threads: Media fandom on-line and off
* Filling in the Gaps: Fans and Fan Fiction on the Internet
* "The Truth We Both Know": Readerly Desire and Heteronarrative in "The X-Files"
* "Your Sister in St. Scully": An Electronic Community of Female Fans of The X-Files
* Cyberspaces of their own: Female fandoms online, by Rhiannon Bury (Review: )
Also see Category:X-Files Academic Commentary
==News Media Articles==
* , article in "Entertainment Weekly," describes some of the then-current 482 X-Files websites (1997)
* and Yale Herald, Tech Briefs (2000)
* Article on mentalfloss.com for the show's 20th anniversary (2013)
*"X-Files articles and Meta" Board on Pinterest
Also see :Category:X-Files News Media.
==External Links==
*X-Files Conspiracy Timeline
*X-Files Wiki
*Deep Background
*Newbieguide to XF on LJ
*exclusive interviews and reports
*The Basement Office (Archive)
*The Ultimate X-Files Webpage (Archive)
==References==
Category:X-Files