I know that was popular when nothing much was known about his mother's side. Is it still that common?
As popular as ever, worst still some stories I've read all but ignore the Uzumaki clan background and make up a superpowered background for Namikaze, even though the Uzumaki clan history has already given plenty of detail to make Naruto powerful, I mean Rinnigan, ability to hold down the Kyuubi, long lifespan, High Chakra levels (Kushina said her chakra was special even amongst her clan, suggesting that the average Uzumaki must have above average Chakra level) and high knowledge of Fuinjutsu. And you know they've chosen to ignore as they add the fact that Kushina was the previous host.
Peeves that turns off fanfics for me would be:
- Overpowered OC: Ok, Gary-stu or Mary-sue is an instant turn off for me, even if it happens to the main character (Naruto, Ichigo, or even Shinji "Whuss ass" Ikari) but when it happens to OC, it just doesn't make a damn sense to me.
- Dumb naming: Ok, this happens mostly in Anime/Manga section... especially Naruto. when the premise is Japanese I want the original characters to AT LEAST have japanese sounding name. it just kills me when the other characters are named: Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura then out of nowhere comes Brian/Jack/Daniel/Andrew. STOP THAT!!! One more thing that also qualify in this section: No creativity in naming. Female version Naruto, just name her Naruko... GET A DAMN CREATIVITY GOING!!! There a damn kittenload of names to go with, popular ones: Kasumi, Kimiko, or even Natsuki.
- Misspell on characters/location: I know typos happens and I can live with that if they are few enough, sure I might prob poke and prod on the author to tell them about it and hopefully have them fixed but if they aren't no biggie for me. But when the same happens over and over in one single chapter, I just can't stomach it (Konoha > Kohona, Jutsu > Jitsu, Evangelion > Evangleion, or god forbid Tokyo > Kyoto... the last 2 cities aren't even close to each other physically.... etc) it just makes me think that the author doesn't even try.
- Dumb Crossover: I can handle crossovers if they are done well or at least have something in common (Naruto/Bleach, overused but its ok. Naruto/Teen Titans, harder to mix but can work. Evangelion/Halo/Metroid, plausible if the author know what they are doing.) but ones that just ridiculous just makes me sick (Evangelion/Naruto? Harry Potter/Halo? or god forbid, Naruto/Power Rangers.... the only thing I can say is wtf.)
Yeah agree with most of those, Overpowered Stu's are a bain of all Fanfic readers existence, they are often over powered, have a crappy name, and end up overtaking the main charactors role in the fic, and spend all their time pointing out other canon charactors flaw.
Dumb naming another good point, I can't argue about Naruko as FF.net have actually added a filter for that name so I can't blame someone if they decide to go for that name, as it's been unofficially canoned, But giving them English names or Spanish or other foreign names hoping no one would pick up on lack of creativity puts me off the fic.
Missplelt charactors/locations is something I can understand but at the same time I also am more forgiving with, as I suffer from a mild case of dyslexia, and often get words all mumbled up, and make spelling mistakes even though I know the spelling, and if I make those mistakes I can't exactly get angry at others for messing, now if there are constant spelling mistakes, where it becomes apparent that the person has not read their own work or had someone read it for them then that is a different matter.
Dumb Crossovers? Well I tend to avoid them in most cases, but I know what you mean, There are a K-on/Naruto crossover fics out there, I think there is one where Mio is Sasuke's and Sakura's child lost child, my first thought was, Atleast make it Sasuke/Hinata's Daughter, Mio not only looks like Hinata, with her looks figure, hairstyle and hair colour, she also has the same personality. I mean on what planet does the super ninja power of Naruto mix well with the super Moe world of K-on? One fight evils of the world, the other tries to work up the motivation to stop drinking their tea and get in some band practice, it doesn't mix Full stop.