I haven't read the story you used as an example, but I would have stopped as soon as I hit Lt. Bates. It's the kind of mistake that would cause me to wonder if the author has seen the show, or is just drawing on the fanfic she's read.
The donuts would also have thrown me out of the story for the reasons you mentioned, although I might have been willing to accept careful coffee rationing.
Getting history wrong makes me mutter under me breath and also tends to make me question the writer's awareness and knowledge of the world. Including Afghanistan in Desert Storm would annoy me to no end, and I would probably stop reading. History matters and I tend to look askance at people who don't know basic facts about their own country's history. If I knew the author wasn't from the US I might be able to overlook it. I have the same reaction whenever someone has Jack serving in Vietnam in an SG-1 story. It throws me completely from the story.
Of course that extends well beyond fanfiction to real life where I have little patience with people who have scant knowledge of recent history.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2006-07-11 03:03 pm (UTC)The donuts would also have thrown me out of the story for the reasons you mentioned, although I might have been willing to accept careful coffee rationing.
Getting history wrong makes me mutter under me breath and also tends to make me question the writer's awareness and knowledge of the world. Including Afghanistan in Desert Storm would annoy me to no end, and I would probably stop reading. History matters and I tend to look askance at people who don't know basic facts about their own country's history. If I knew the author wasn't from the US I might be able to overlook it. I have the same reaction whenever someone has Jack serving in Vietnam in an SG-1 story. It throws me completely from the story.
Of course that extends well beyond fanfiction to real life where I have little patience with people who have scant knowledge of recent history.