Albuquerque, NM -- April 24, 2000 -- In a rare move which goes against mounting sentiments in the online science fiction and fantasy fandom community, Michael Martinez has announced that http://www.xenite.org/ will not participate in the May 13 Operation Blackout that hundreds of fannish web sites, large and small, have been preparing for months in advance as a means of protesting studio crackdowns on fannish Web sites which use trademarked and/or copyrighted material.
Xenite.Org has long been instrumental in fostering young online fandom communities and is usually in touch with fannish goals and purposes. Xenite.Org is home to Xena Online Resources (http://www.xenite.org/xor/home.shtml), the Web's largest directory of Hercules and Xena Web sites, the Xenite and Herkulean Webmasters Association (http://www.xenite.org/xhwa/) which reported on Operation Blackout in its most recent member newsletter, and the oldest dedicated Lord of the Rings movie news site on the Web (http://www.xenite.org/faqs/lotr_movie/).
The decision to break with online fandom over a controversial practice which has received mention on electronic and print news media through the past several years was not easily reached, Martinez says. "Xenite.Org is a fannish domain, privately owned and administered," he writes in an announcement posted on Xenite.Org (http://www.xenite.org/special_events/may_13_2000.html). "...but we retain copyrights to the material posted here and we have in the past and will in the future enforce those copyrights against other fannish web sites which have misappropriated our material." The decisions thus represents a stand on principle and a desire to avoid hypocrisy, Martinez explains.
The copyrighted material to which Martinez refers includes proprietary essays on J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth which have been cited in dissertations and masters' theses and used by thousands of students around the world. Fan fiction and collages and other images derived from screen captures -- which are popular content with many fannish Web sites -- comprise only a small fraction of Xenite.Org's content, most of which is either original content written by Martinez and others or discussions on Xenite.Org's popular message boards.
Xenite.Org provides link directories, message boards, mailing lists, Webring homepages, and information about science fiction and fantasy news groups and how to access to them. The domain has been active for several years in promoting and fostering online fandom communities and is widely known and respected for its role in certain areas of fandom. Martinez has also been active in science fiction conventions, and he has obtained several contracts to write about science fiction and fantasy topics for commercial print and electronic media.
Many of Martinez' essays may be found on other Web sites. Some are written under contract, some are provided as a courtesy. "Webmasters only have to ask for permission to use my essays," he says. "I'll be glad to let them do so in exchange for a link back to Xenite.Org. And we have an active reciprocal links program to help other Web sites gain exposure." Martinez' research and commentaries, especially about J.R.R. Tolkien and Middle-earth, have been mentioned in newspapers in New Zealand, where a three-film adaptation of Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" is currently underway. Martinez has no official affiliation with the project, which he has openly supported despite objections by many "purist" fans on the Internet.
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