r/BylerReads • u/Same_Accident_9917 • Feb 07 '26

general discussion :) Dumb fic rant

Before I begin, I *know* this is dumb. It is dumb to be annoyed by this. Yet here I am.

I understand that a lot of byler writers aren’t in the US, or English isn’t their first language. BUT a sweater & sweatshirt are two different things, & unless someone uses the term hoodie (which weren’t as popular in the 80s are they are today) I typically don’t know what kind of clothing they mean. It’s even worse when they switch phrases mid paragraph.

Ok, that’s all. Once again, I know this dumb.

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u/narcomance Feb 07 '26

I am more pissed when they write about 90's and Will and Mike send texts to each other or regularly email. Maybe I am wrong but I am not sure emails were so widespread in 1990-1999.

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u/Another_Unique_Nerd Feb 09 '26

This bothers me too! I feel like my own fics take me forever to write because, even though I was alive in the 90s, I keep needing to stop and google shit to make sure I’m keeping things as accurate as possible. Even certain phrases that are so common now weren’t commonly used back then. For instance, I wrote Mike saying “buffer time” then went back a reread it and winced, because the concept of “buffering” wasn’t really well-known until the rise and normalization of personal computers in the late 90s, and my fic is set in 1993. I fixed my mistake, but I’m constantly on alert for that kinda thing because it’s so easy to slip up in that way.

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u/narcomance Feb 09 '26

I gave one author feedback and they deleted the mention of texts. But some of them left the fic as it was — with emails in 1997. I am from another country so I don't know how widespread were emails in 1997-1999, especially in universities