In theory, at least, it shouldn't be just for characters. It should be for any contradiction of or deviation from canon that nonetheless is accepted even by otherwise sane fans of Original Flavor Fic. Say, if someone claiming to write book-canon!Narnia still lists them as living in Finchley.
But, in fandoms that don't support Elsewhere Fic, almost everything important relates to the characters in the end, anyway.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage — Paul McCartney
And the current description does suggest "not in canon, but it's unimportant." The key, though, is that it needs to be unimportant even to the sane members of the fandom.
There is a fine line between recklessness and courage — Paul McCartney
Or at least so entrenched in the fandom that even the people who hate it have given up protesting about it.
Take the Yu-Gi-Oh example, for instance. Every once in a while you will find people grumble about the "yamis" inexplicably having their own bodies, but it's so accepted in the fandom that no one blinks at it anymore, despite it being nosensical at any close examination (it's occasionally given a handwave, but even so).
edited 14th Apr '11 4:43:38 PM by StarryEyed
The title doesn't really show that it's only used for characters. I've seen it used as "not in canon, but it doesn't matter often. Can we check this?