DargonZine

1982

• DargonZine's founder, Ornoth, started college at University of Maine.
• UMaine became one of the first sites on the nascent BITNET network.

1983

• A core group of students at UMaine, inspired by a feeling of excitement and innovation, created many of the first Internet-based information services, including the BITNAUTS liST, the CSNEWS server, and electronic magazines like VM-Com, the Gliding Byte, and the Environment Account.

1984

• Ornoth began entertaining the idea of bringing BITNET science fiction and fantasy writers and fans together by producing an electronic magazine, with as much original fiction as possible.
• Just after Christmas, a preliminary mailing (FSFnet 0-0) was sent out to 100 fantasy and science fiction fans, announcing the magazine and soliciting submissions.

1985

• FSFnet began publishing in trimesters with an initial readership of 70 which dipped briefly as low as 35 in the summer before rebounding in the fall. Content included stories, reviews, featured authors, and so forth.
• In November, Ornoth proposed a collaborative writing effort called "the Dargon Project" where writers would introduce and share characters within a common setting.

1986

• The first Dargon Project stories were printed in FSFnet 4-1. Size, distribution, and quality of issues increased rapidly.
• After being listed in Chris Condon's BITliST magazine, Usenet news, and the ARPAnet List-of-Lists, FSFnet underwent its first large-scale membership expansion, ending year above 225 readers. Several new writers came on board, including the prolific John White.

1987

• Dargon's success continued, reaching more than 500 readers.

1988

• After 11 volumes and 48 issues, FSFnet ceased publication as Ornoth graduated and lost Internet access.
• John White took over putting out issues, renaming the magazine DargonZine. DargonZine only printed Dargon Project stories, and transitioned to annual volumes (rather than FSFnet's trimesters).

1989

• Circulation surpassed 850.

1990

• DargonZine broke several records as 11 issues came out in its third year and circulation surpassed 1000 readers.

1991

• Readership surpassed 1200!

1992

• After several years away from the magazine, FSFnet's founder Ornoth returned to DargonZine as a contributing writer.

1993

• Nothing interesting happened in 1993. Sorry!

1994

• Ornoth reassumed the role of Editor, and increased visibility brought in several new writers.
• DargonZine began to support "notification-only" subscriptions.

1995

• We celebrated the 10th anniversary of FSFnet's founding by distributing a huge two-issue "Best of ..." collection.
• The first annual Dargon Writers' Summit was held in Boston.
• At end of year, DargonZine's first World Wide Web site went live.

1996

• The Baranur-Beinison War storyline was closed with the publication of Jon Evans' "Coup".

1997

• Readers were given the ability to subscribe, unsubscribe, and update subscription via online forms.
• Jon Evans was named DargonZine's first Assistant Editor.
• A special "Night of Souls" issue was printed.

1998

• A new system for mentoring new writers was put into place by Mark Murray. A record seven new writers were printed this year!
• Two DargonZine issues printed the results of a writing contest based on the advent of a comet in the skies above Dargon.

1999

• DargonZine celebrated its 15th year on the Internet!
• Our Web site underwent several major improvements. We moved to www.dargonzine.org, introduced a MySQL-powered Online Glossary, and converted many back issues to HTML format.
• Dafydd's outstanding—and lengthy!— "Talisman" series was begun.

2000

• Web site enhancements continued with the introduction of interactive maps and reader ratings of each story
• An article on TipWorld brought in many new readers and two new writers.
• We distributed a record 37 stories in 13 issues in 2000!

2001

• Although we finally completed fleshing out our Online Glossary, DargonZine faced lots of challenges, including being restricted from posting to Usenet, running out of material to print, and losing several veteran writers.

2002

• Released a large collection of new maps of Dargon to our Web site, all of them including interactive versions powered by our Online Glossary.

2003

• The Dargon Project Inc. was formally incorporated.
• Our Austin Writers' Summit featured our first writing retreat and the beginning of the huge Black Idol story arc.
• We began running ads on Google's search engine, bringing in many new readers.

2004

• Despite a long hiatus while we were writing our Black Idol stories, at the end of the year, DargonZine celebrated the 20th anniversary of its founding!
• With the publication of the final episode of his five-year, thirty-eight chapter Talisman novella, Dafydd was given a plaque and DargonZine's first Lifetime Achievement Award.
• DargonZine began syndicating issues with its own RSS news feed.

2005

• DargonZine resumed publication and printed the first sixteen stories in the long-awaited Black Idol story arc, the most ambitious collaboration in the magazine's history.