I didn't realize it at the time, but somewhere in 1995 I created my first Web page. It happened quietly and suddenly. I posted a message to a news group and a service called Deja News copied that message and stored it for posterity in a Web page. Deja News anticipated so many things: Web forums, blogs, social media. Now known as Google Groups, Deja News bridges the past with the present on the Web.
I created my first intentional Web site in August 1996. I called it The Worlds of Michael Martinez and so far as I can determine no version of it remains, not even on the Wayback Machine, Archive.Org. My worlds encompassed the world of music, the world of literature, the world of work -- all seen through my eyes, expressed through my words.
After creating three more Web sites (Xena Online Resources, The History of Xena: Warrior Princess, and The Witch World Page) on various ISP services I decided around February 1997 that I should really consolidate my various Web projects on one domain. On March 14, 1997, Xenite.Org sprang to life on the Web, although it took about 3 days for DNS databases around the world to pick up its information.
By the end of March I had created my first Web forum, The Witch World Forum, which was the first Web forum dedicated to Andre Norton. Later that year I created the first Web forum dedicated to J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings. Through the years I have launched other "first" forums, including the first fan-operated Farscape and Andromeda forums.
Xena Online Resources
In Rolling Stone Australia
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 When Rolling Stone Magazine came calling, Dixie reluctantly agreed to talk to the media. She was featured in a sidebar titled "Across the Xenaverse".
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 The full Rolling Stone feature has been preserved on LucyLawless.info. Yahoo! Internet Life, TV Guide, and Encyclopedia Britannica are among the media who have cited or featured Xenite.Org.
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And yet despite my creativity and innovation, I have occasionally dropped the ball. One day in the summer of 1997 I received an email from Tom Simpson. Tom created Xenafan.com, which to this day remains the most popular Xena fan site ever. He wrote to say, "Hey, great to see you have your own domain! But you should put an index page on your root URL to keep people from poking around your directories."
Oops.
My early Web projects began as news group postings, and it took me several months to stop thinking of Web pages as static versions of news group postings. I was always hampered by a lack of resources. Unlike so many other fan sites I couldn't provide huge image archives because I didn't have the hardware to make screen captures from movies and television shows. Nor was I a graphics artist, nor an illustrator, nor even much of a photographer. And I didn't have a scanner for several years.
One day I received an email from a graphics artist named Stacey Capps. "Great site, Michael, but your graphics are really bad. Would you like some help?" I gratefully accepted her help and have continued to use Stacey's graphics to this day. We should probably replace them, but I still haven't learned to do that sort of thing on my own. And call me old-fashioned or Web 1.0, but I really do like the motif.
 Dixie Harrison has been with me almost since Xenite.Org started. By April 1997 I was unable to devote the time required to updating Xena Online Resources. I appealed to Xena fans for help and about a dozen of them signed up to become the XOR Team, and our first group of volunteers. There have been many dozens of volunteers who have helped out since. By November 1997 I had to go offline for a while. I had just asked Dixie to take over management of the XOR Team, so having no one else to turn to I emailed her the passwords, explained a few technical procedures, and said, "Please take care of the place while I'm gone."
"I don't know nothin' about managing no domains!" Dixie complained. She drew many deep, heavy breaths as we discussed the transition over the telephone. Well, she got through the experience and went on to become one of the best, most capable Webmasters/mistresses I have ever had the pleasure of working with. And though she does graphical design, too, she tends to be very busy. Quality is always in high demand.
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