Xenite.Org...almost
One of the projects which never got off the ground despite a great deal of preparation was a Web site called Xenite.Org Today. It was going to be formatted like a glossy magazine and would include interviews with writers, actors, and producers from several TV shows (Xena, The Lost World, Andromeda). Many people were willing to contribute. A graphics artist and an editor were going to devote their time to bringing the site online. It was to be a celebration of fandom. Email interviews were written and answered.
So...what happened?
"Sometimes, people make commitments they cannot keep," Michael explains. "I was pumped over this project. Dixie could hardly contain me. And then, suddenly, the two people we were counting on the most couldn't stay involved. It came down to deciding whether I should try to go forward with the site or stop it right there. My life was in upheaval at the time, and I just couldn't see how I'd be able to do a good job by it. So I wrote to everyone involved, thanked them for their efforts, and said we would just drop the project."
Note: The articles and interviews collected for this site before the project was cancellled were eventually published as part of the Xenite.Org 10th Anniversary Special in 2007.
One resource Xenite.Org has excelled at is providing links on various topics. When a popular Edgar Rice Buroughs fan site was taken down, Michael saved its link directory and kept the ERB fans in touch with each other for a couple of years. Xena Online Resources has long been the premier resource on the Web for Hercules and Xena listings. And Xenite.Org had a special directory of Tolkien Web sites Michael had personally vetted. People were begging to be listed, but most never made the cut.
So, one day, Michael proposed that Xenite.Org create a general SF link directory. It's not like there weren't several good ones already out there. But Xenite had many links already. So, Dixie began designing templates for the new directory. She set up an enitrely new Web site with scripts and everything. And...it vanished. What happened?
"I ran out of time," Michael says with a heavy sigh. "I was projecting about 5,000 links after one year's worth of research. But the project was immense. I was going to automate the process as much as possible. But I couldn't finish enough projects, so I finally told Dixie to just take down the site. It wasn't ready, wouldn't be ready, and would have been an embarrassment to us if we had announced it."
"I always wanted to create a fantastic online bookstore," Michael says wistfully. "I tried to do it several times, but every time, something weird happened. The first book store was a collection of pages with personal comments about the books of 40-50 authors. We were an Amazon affiliate back then and I had spent weeks creating those pages. Then, one day, while checking traffic statistics, I noticed declining sales and visitors. What happened?"
A little bit of research revealed that Michael's pages had been copied by another Webmaster. "He had not finished converting all the pages," Michael says. "I found my own Amazon links still embedded in the pages."
Michael wrote to the Webmaster, demanding that the stolen content be taken down. The Webmaster refused, boldly claiming that all the content was original work. So Michael sent proof of the stolen content. Every page which had any Xenite.Org referral codes on it was immediately updated. "I should have left well enough alone," Michael says. "We lost even more sales after that."
Fed up with the Amazon experience, Michael turned to VStore, which used Javascript to embed links on pages. "Great technology," Michael says thoughtfully. "Easy interface to work with. The only problem was that search engines would not crawl Javascript. I couldn't get any decent search engine listings, and people just didn't trust VStore the way they trusted Amazon."
So, after a year of trying other vendors, Michael went back to Amazon. "By now they had begun implementing that ugly search box. Still, I thought, that might be the trick." Michael added Amazon search boxes to thousands of pages of content. Sales began to pick up. Xenite.Org almost made enough money to pay its hosting fees. And then...
"I got into a dispute with Amazon over their lack of enforcement for some of their stated policies," Michael says. "I felt they were being dishonest. They said they didn't have to change the way they did business. So I cancelled my association with them and pulled all the search boxes. It cost them about $10,000 a year in sales. A drop in the bucket for Amazon, but we struggled to replace that commission revenue."
