[ SECRET POST #4411 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #4411 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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08. [SPOILERS for Crazy Ex Girlfriend]



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09. [SPOILERS for You]
[WARNING for stalking]



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10. [WARNING for discussion of sexual harassment]



















Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 00 pages, 00 secrets from Secret Submission Post #631.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

What are some factual errors and worldbuilding messups that have really thrown you? The urban legends people have cited as real, the misattributed quotes, the failures of grade school science?

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

I was reading an isekai manga the other day - one of your classic 'I was reborn into a fantasy setting' types - and the main character had a whole sequence where she discovered that soap didn't exist in this world, and then she went and invented soap.
Expect, like... it's a vaguely 17th century sort of setting? You know, plate glass windows and horse-drawn carriages.
The fucking Romans had soap. You expect me to believe these people have managed to invent the printing press but they haven't worked out how to not stink? Bullshit.

Hijack your comment here...

[(Anonymous)]

...but what's the name of the manga? thgat type of fantasy trope is 9ne my faves! So..if you have them...recs please?

Re: Critical Research Failure

[philstar22]

You know, as long as a fictional world is internally consistent, I'm fine with suspension of disbelief. It doesn't have to follow the rules of our world, but it sure better follow its own rules.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Not exactly the same thing, but I was literally just thinking about this. I'm a genealogist, and on Who Do You Think You Are? they always have people at historical societies ready with books and eager to help. In reality, no. You're on your own. One episode actually showed a historical society I'd just been to, and while everyone was actually very nice, no one sat with me and helped me look through things, and no one just happened to have a book that revealed dramatic secrets about my family.

I get why - they're going to do a lot more for Susan Sarandon than they are a rando. :P It just makes me laugh.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

I was just talking about this with my mom. Tracing my family history would be so easy if everyone did the research for me like they do for TV!

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

I'm sure none of the celebs are doing their own research for the show, and it looks better on TV if they can have a conversation with someone rather than just sit there flipping through documents and going "huh."

I kind of want to be on Finding Your Roots and have someone do it all for me! And I want a DNA test so I can find out 1) how much, if any, Neanderthal is in me, 2) am I related to Genghis Khan, and, if possible 3) expose any serial killers who might be lurking in my family (not that I have my eye on anyone in particular).

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Receptionists are always ditzy and mean. You actually have to remember a lot of information at once, and people skills are pretty important.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[greghousesgf]

right on, I used to be one.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Boss blames you for mistakes and relies on you to enforce boundaries lol

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

once read an avengers fic where cap was thinking about mister rogers (the tv host, i mean) and how he wore long sleeved sweaters all the time because his arms were covered in tattoos

which is a dumb-assed urban legend and it's been on snopes for years and years

so it just made cap sound like an idiot

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

i'm guessing the context of the story was not "Captain America doesn't know about snopes".

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

I stopped reading Harry Potter fanfic set in the Founders' time because I couldn't stop being annoyed at writers who don't know the difference between Britain circa 1000 AD and Britain circa 1500 AD. The worst was one where a time-travelling Harry was embarrassed by not knowing which fork to use at dinner.
Forks weren't in use in Britain until the 16th century at the *earliest*. So no, no-one's gonna pull you up for grabbing the dessert fork instead of the salad fork for another s i x h u n d r e d y e a r s.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

So now you had me go read about the history of forks...

I like the idea of a time traveler worrying about knowing what fork to use and then walking in to a room where everyone is eating with their hands and the knife from their belt!

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

A couple of times I've come across fics where the author was under the impression that 200+ years ago, most people died in their forties, and that literally no one ever lived beyond their sixties.

I'm pretty sure what happens is that people look up stats for average life expectancy among a certain population at a certain time in history. And because so many people died in infancy and early childhood, and also because a lot of people died quite young of (at the time untreatable) diseases and health complications, the average life expectancy is very low. So the person takes that number at face value, and just goes with it, without realizing that an average does not indicate a full range.

But even though I understand how the inaccuracy comes about, it still bugs me whenever it turns up in a fic.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[philstar22]

It is funny how many people believe average life expectancy = how long people live and forget completely about child mortality.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

It's been a long time since I saw it, so maybe it was addressed in the show, but there was that episode of That 70s Show where they take a road trip to Canada for beer. Wisconsin doesn't share a land border with Canada and you are looking at a minimum 8 hour round-trip from the most Canada-proximal parts of the state and longer from anywhere else, which strikes me as way too much effort for beer.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

A book I read had the main character give a speech where she quoted Sara's "All girls are princesses" speech from A Little Princess. She said she'd memorized it because her mother read her the book so many times as a child.

So because she'd had the book read to her so many times, she memorized a speech that was never in the book and was written for the 1995 movie. Critical research failure indeed.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

My work’s LGBT outreach people had shirts made for our local pride parade with “Be yourself. Everyone else is taken—Oscar Wilde” on them, which is commonly misattributed to Wilde but originated sometime after 1960, possibly even in the wilds of the internet.

... I work for a public library. C’mon, guys, you’re making us look bad!

Re: Critical Research Failure

[meredith44]

I went to a defensive driving course once where the instructor stated as fact the four way stop urban legend that a mail truck has right of way over a firetruck, police car, and ambulance. It threw me, as I figured someone who was supposed to be teaching driving laws would actually go with facts, rather than a legend that has been debunked. Even if it was only for interest rather than the true teaching part. (Granted I found the class to be an absolutely ridiculous waste of time for me anyway, as it was 90% "Don't drink and drive" and I don't drink, so I was already annoyed at the whole thing.)

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

I've read books where the author clearly didn't check how the school system in different countries work. Or once there was a crime novel (it's been years) that had a Jury in a country that doesn't use them.

Also saw contemporary characters from France use feet to describe their height...

Re: Critical Research Failure

[greghousesgf]

Catherine the Great did not have sex with horses, that story was started about her by her political enemies. She was what we would call a size queen but she liked men, not horses! She did have an interesting way of picking lovers. She had two very good looking maids who were her friends and who liked to have sex with lots of guys just like she did, so if she was interested in a guy she would get one or both of the maids to seduce him and then report back to her about how good he was in bed.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Happens all the time in historical fiction. I read a novel where the heroine is staying in a large country house and decides to call upon her neighbor who lives on a huge, Pemberley-style estate nearby. Not only does she walk there even though this estate is enormous, but she brings a basket of fresh baked goods AND they're still steaming hot when she arrives and surprises the gentleman of the house who is completely alone in this giant mansion with no household staff.

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Does every failed and inaccurate attempt to call back on Star Trek's original series count?
Because, if so, that.

Even when the creators actually have watched the series, (discovery, unlike the 09' movie 'AU's where he actively admitted to never have watched/liked the series), Their attempt to 'include' aspects of the original series just makes everything worse...

Re: Critical Research Failure

[(Anonymous)]

Rowling's tweet about wizard scatology.