DIANE SILVER::
^[129] Why did you decide to start XMR? What prompted you to do it? What did it feel like?

KYM TABORN:
^[130] By the time I had seen my 4th or 5th episode I was doomed. From that point on I instinctively tried to find out as much information about the show as humanly possible. I started a database of references to the show, especially newspapers and magazines. The database grew and grew and I used it to refer to things online. Some peers noticed and asked for copies. Pretty soon I was doing a side business of supplying people media references to XWP. Then it occurred to me that I could make a newsletter out of this material.

^[131] At the time I was editing a Star Trek fan newsletter and I wanted to start another. I had researched a few ideas about doing a ST novel based one, a B5 one and a MST3K one. None of those really panned out, but then X:WP barged into my life. It was an early fandom and I felt this was an opportunity I could not miss. I had felt I had missed jumping on the boat with early ST fandom. I felt that Xena fandom had great potential and that I would not be wasting my time taking on such a huge (and I mean huge) project. The gamble was not only whether the Xena fans would be interested in reading essentially old news about the show and its primary actors, but whether they wanted to read commentary as well. I discovered that not only is there a demand for that, but I can't even keep up with it! Even with a staff of 5 people working at it.

SILVER:
^[132] What did you feel was lacking in online Xenadom?

TABORN:
^[133] The more I got into XWP the more I felt I wanted to read about how other people were thinking about the show. You would get some very exciting posts on a topic, and then as is the nature of mailing lists and discussion groups, the fragment would be abandoned for a newer, more current topic. My frustration over this was the gensis of IAXS and Whoosh!. I really wanted to be able to read thoughtful and entertaining articles about XWP as often as possible. No one was offering that whatsoever in any regular and organized fashion. I created IAXS because I knew I was not capable of writing everything (even though I felt like I was at the beginning!) and I needed a way to encourage people to write what they felt and understood about XWP. Whoosh!, then became the depository of the articles written by IAXS members.

SILVER:
^[134] What did you do to start XMR?

TABORN:
^[135] I first edited the first 7 issues! I had never done anything like that so I thought if I edited 7 issues privately then I could work out the bugs. Then, I wouldn't be stressed out so much producing it. I could concentrate on the audience reaction. Once I had those 7 issues, I put out a post on the mailing lists, a.t.x, and the NetForum about a new publication. I had 60 charter subscribers. That impressed me!

SILVER:
^[136] Why was it so important to make it weekly?

TABORN:
^[137] I wanted it weekly because I wanted to play "catch-up" and I wanted to get some type of product identification. The first three issues covered materials before even Xena appeared in H:TLJ! The few after that covered pre-production releases and ROC making money. The first 16 issues were weekly except for one week which I skipped somewhere. After that I went on a three week vacation and I never really effectively caught up. After that, it came out in multiple parts approximately every month.

SILVER:
^[138] Which fans and/or XenaStaff were important to the founding of XMR (if any), and what did they do?

TABORN:
^[139] XMR was primarily a solo venture. I did not meet any XenaStaff until July of 1996, and of the two I met, one said he liked XMR and the other said they preferred TWXN! (Oh, I started TWXN in May 1996 as an "advance sheet" for XMR because I knew for me to do all this, I would have a lapse between locating a reference and then writing it up properly in XMR).

^[140] The charter subscribers were a great support. I wouldn't be doing half of what I am doing in fandom if I didn't receive such great support from the fans. They have always made me know that my efforts are appreciated, even when I write about Baywatch.

^[141] When I started XMR I was really just a nobody. I am sure no one realized that it would lead on to Whoosh! and become such a prominant feature of online Xena fandom. My work on XMR no doubt gave me the clout to undertake something as complex as Whoosh!. XMR I did by myself but Whoosh! required the work of many people. Through the respect I had gained online from XMR, Whoosh! was constructed.

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