“You’re still obsessed with The X-Files? I don’t get it, it’s just a TV show.”

campaignofmisinformation:

I’d be willing to bet most of you have heard something like
that before. Hell, variations of that statement have been thrown at me for over
20 years by my parents, friends, girlfriends, teachers, and the like. And I usually
launch into a dissertation on what Mulder and Scully mean to me, how the show
changed my perception of the world, how groundbreaking Scully’s character was,
and all of the other praises you’ve heard me sing before.

The truth is, what keeps me in this fandom may include all
of those things, but it’s also you.

From the old school message boards, to gossamer, to AOL
chatrooms, to forums, to LiveJournal, to Tumblr, this fandom has always been an
interactive one. It was never “just a show,” it’s always been a community of
like-minded people who share a love of the intellectual, the debate, two
characters (who should get it on for god’s sake), the truth, creativity,
support, community, and love.

Because of this show I’ve been able to do amazing things.
When I was 11, I met a 12 year old in the AOL X-Files chatroom. His name is
Dylan and I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him several times throughout my life.
He’s a constant, my oldest friend, who’d have thought?

In 2002, I met a girl on the XF message boards. She lived
across the country in Seattle (I was stuck in Tallahassee) and she inevitably
flew to me, and then I to her, and we toured Vancouver together in 2003. It was
my first time out of the country, and also my first time falling in love with a
girl. Who’d have thought?

In 2008, I met up with a group of Philes from LiveJournal at
the midnight premiere of IWTB. It was great- we were able to get drunk and be
angry all together. In 2016, I flew to NYC twice to meet a bunch of Tumblrinos
at Streetcar. We sang karaoke, I got a tattoo, Chewchovny was born, Gillian
pulled on my tie, and we played Resist or Serve from start to finish. Amazing. In
2017, I returned to NYC to see Mr. Duchovny show off his moves at the Gramercy
theatre- again with Tumblrinos. Superb.

And last, but certainly not least, this month I had the most
amazing experience of my life thus far: I shared a house in the Holy Land of
Vancouver with 8 other Tumblrinos – representing 6 different countries – for two
entire weeks.

Over the course of those two weeks we laughed, debated, had
family dinners, visited old filming sites, read fanfiction out loud as bedtime
stories, got tattoos, read smut out loud drunk, saw filming, stayed up together to see the sunrise
because it was too much fun to go to sleep, documented our trip on Snapchat to
share with all of you, and we became a family.

That’s the kind of fandom we’ve built together. And
without all of you – and this online experience we’re creating – none of
those things would’ve happened.

You’ve changed my life.

So, from the bottom of my heart to every single person in
The X-Files fandom who ever has or ever will participate in this ride, I love
you.

Thank you. 

👽💋