asylum of the furry hat

Dear SPN writers,

When writing backstory or a 'history' scene in the SPN fandom, please be aware of the vast differences in technology available and accessible between now and then.

In other words...

While it may have 'technically' been possible, it is highly, HIGHLY unlikely that in 1987, John Winchester would have had a cell phone!

Only about 1 million people in the US had one, and they were expensive and really, really bulky, not to mention unreliable.

In conclusion, please remember that we have not always had cell phones and MP3 players in every store in the world.

That is all.

Me.

ETA: Craiglist was nowhere near large enough in 1997 to be known in BackWaterTown, Idaho! (It was still limited to San Francisco then, and a mailing list, not a website.)

ETA2: And YouTube wasn't created until 2005!! (ie. not in existence in 1997)

Awhile ago I reached the point in fandom where I've pretty much stopped seeking out fic to read. Not to say I'm not reading, but I'm not eagerly reaching for every piece of fic in every fandom to read.

This really started in SGA, where the sheer volume of fic is too much for a single person to read. I also found I was wading through too much crap to find a few gems. I found the same thing in SPN recently, though that one is more 'wading through the Wincest to find the Gen'.

(At this point I should note that I've pretty much given up on the Numb3rs fandom in general, because if it's not Eppescest, then it's all Charlie-based and I'm more of a Don-girl. Where's all the long, involved Don-fic that doesn't involved a borderline Mary Sue? Where's my epic Don/Coop or Don/Edgerton?? These are important questions I tell you!!)

I've become very picky in what I choose to read, sticking mostly to authors I know and like, or recs by people that I trust to only rec the good stuff. I will sometimes go looking for recs in other places, which is how I found Stele3 in SPN who created the best OFC I've ever seen in Freakboy and Dykegirl (I'll do a proper rec for this later, because it deserves some serious warnings).

I rarely deviate from this course unless I'm *really* bored or entering a new fandom.

This week I've been *beyond* bored, hence my trip over to TtH to read 3 truly horrific (and *long*) stories in a row. I didn't plan it, but I managed to hit 3 stories that bugged me in 3 completely different ways, one after the other.

This post is really about wondering how other people choose the fic they read - (and hoping for some epic story recs in return) - and what makes you hit the back button fast?

Some of mine:
- serious OOC-ness
- genderfuck (not the same as an AU where the characters are different genders)
- incest (with very, very few exceptions)
- serious canon errors
- a character suddenly becomes 'super' and goes around kicking ass and taking names and teaching everyone valuable lessons
- Mary Sues
- enough bad grammar/spelling that at every other sentence I have to stop and try to figure out what the author really meant
- a 'secret past' that completely changes how someone acts

...actually, most of these are on the Bad!Fic Bingo card I made a while ago. Hmmmmm......

The one thing I will absolutely never forgive:
- misspelling of names/places/things in a *book*-verse (HP fandom, I'm looking at you!)

I mean, honestly people!