Fans of the web world

If your idea of fans is a group of Star Wars geeks marching around with fake light sabers or football freaks crying out - and crying - in pubs, then you probably aren't very far from the truth. Once considered the cash cows of their chosen passions, fans are now getting savvier, and using their numbers to rake in the moolah through fan sites. We take a look at some of the most popular sites in the category.

• Ain't It Cool News

Probably the first and the most successful site of it's kind, Ain't It Cool News is one of the most influential and widely read film fan sites in the world. Founded by Harry Knowles, a film buff, in 1996 to review and inform people about the film and television, the site soon acquired reputation for breaking news provided by anonymous insiders and Knowle's colourful reviews.

• Comic Book Resources

"The comics site you have to visit," says the tagline, and anyone who has visited Comic Book Resources would find it hard to disagree with that statement. Founded in 1996 by Jonah Weiland, CBR is literally a treasure trove for fans of comics and graphic novels. It has very active message boards and like AICN, gets news and gossip through fans and industry insiders.It's most popular feature is it's extensive database, which has led many to draw a comparison between CBR and the Internet Movie Database(IMDB), the world's most extensive movie database.

• Fansfc

This Essex-based site is a model of internet-style democracy. It is a soccer fanzine run for fans, by fans, with most of the content generated by users. Most of the news consists of sideline and transfer gossip, but the biggest USP of this site is that it has customised pages nad newsletters on all clubs in the English Premier League, Serie A, La Liga and Scottish Premier League. Fansfc, however, remains a predominantly England-centric site, and falls short when it comes to European football.

• Mugglenet

Harry Potter fan sites outnumber most other franchises on the Net, but the best among them is one created in 1999 by a 12-year-old, Emerson Spartz. Left with a little too much time due to home schooling, Spartz created Mugglenet.com for fun. Mugglenet's features aren't very different from the most Potter fan sites but are easier to access and offer a wider variety. They include descriptions of the first six Potter-books, rumours about the seventh book, and information on the first five movies. The site also has an e-newsletter, games and editorials.

• Indianfootball

Although not in the same league as foreign sites, Indianfootball.com has managed to carve a niche for itself. Started in 1998 by Arunava Chaudhuri, a football fan looking to do something for the game in India, IFC is today the most widely visited Indian football website. With a relatively good database and extensive coverage of domestic football, it is the first major site of its kind in the country and can hopefully start a trend in India.