It's hard to come up with something to say which isn't cliched or entirely self-promotional. Xenite.Org has grown to include more than 100 Web sites and some of its content has been offloaded to other domains. We are also in the process of expanding our network to yet more domains. There is just so much stuff here that we have outgrown two hosting services and now lease two dedicated servers.

I remember when $25 a month hosting fees seemed like a lot of money. Now I'm wondering how long it will be before we need a third server.

Through the years we've built up a loyal community of people who participate in our forums and mailing lists, read the stories we occasionally post here, follow our news pages, and use our link directories. A few dozen people have pitched in to help keep things running smoothly (or as smoothly as can be managed).

When I started out creating Web sites, I really didn't have any plan. Now we've managed to outgrow every plan I've come up with since March 1997. All of my past goals for Xenite.Org have been achieved, and many of them have been exceeded. A few ideas failed to take off. Or they fizzled out. We no longer offer Internet TV shows (the whole industry went bust) or Internet radio stations (they mostly went bust). We do offer interactive content in association with a couple of other domains.

With more than 50,000 pages of content, the Xenite.Org network has become a behemoth. I frequently hear from people who want to know why their reciprocal link hasn't been added, or why their Webring application hasn't been approved yet, or why we haven't updated something. The truth is that no matter how many volunteers we have, we just end up with more stuff to do. It takes time to catch up with all the requests and inquiries. It's a rare day indeed when I can actually clear the inbox of email. I may have done it twice last year. I've only done it once so far this year.

It takes a lot of people to keep this place going. I can't begin to thank them all for their dedicated, often un-thanked service through the years. There are few perks we can offer the volunteers at Xenite.Org. And amazingly most of our volunteers have declined to accept any of the perks. What they do, they do for love of being a part of online fandom.

If you have seen our advertising rates page, you know we're asking for a lot of money up front from potential advertisers. The stated rate is entirely serious. But that's because it's no longer worth the effort to try to accomodate potential advertisers. We turn down many offers which might actually be capable of paying the bills. But the time and effort involved in modifying our content to comply with their requirements are prohibitive.

Xenite.Org may look like it's trying to be a business, but we're not. We're just caught on a merry-go-round which has given us a lot of enjoyment. And to keep the merry-go-round spinning, we're not above holding our hand out and asking people to help by purchasing products from the online merchants we affiliate with.

There have been some hassles along the way. In fact, as I write this celebratory essay, we have yet to fully restore the mailing list services we had to suspend in February when we began our latest change in servers. There have been projects I wish I never started, and there are projects I have little hope of ever completing. And there are also new projects under way, or in the planning stages, which will emerge in the next few weeks or months.

But we get email every day from people who tell us how much they enjoy Xenite.Org and its communities. That's what keeps us going. Well, that's what keeps me going. I can't really speak for the others.

Except when I say, thank you for the past five years. Here's hoping we can stay together for another five years.