Quibble

I have a minor quibble I'd like to share in case it bothers anyone else (misery loves company). When a season of BtVS aired is that the year the events took place ie. S1=1997, S2=1997-1998 and so on? I ask this because over the years I have read a number of fics where a story is clearly set in a particular season yet the characters refer to more contemporary stuff which always jerks me out of the "reality" of a fic. It's a little thing (don't get me started on fics like the one I once read where there were Puritan witch trials in Sunnydale and an 18th century cross-country railroad) and I'm known to be nitpicky so I don't know if this is a valid complaint.