i'm american and my beta keeps telling me that i need to do this, but i don't really think it matters. really, i never noticed before...then again i'm not british.

In school we are told that in exams it doesn't matter what way we spell. I am British, it seems we're not fussy on spelling!
But yes, I hate the words soccer & Candy.

like it matters

I always notice when an American has written the story 'cause of all the missing 'u's and the surplus of 'z's, but I don't think it ought to be changed, even though I'm a fussy speller. Just because a fanfic is based on Harry Potter, it doesn't necessarily have to be written in 'British', as long as the main ideology is British. As in, Harry wouldn't go and play a game of baseball, or go to a homecoming dance, nor would he eat corn dogs or candy. It's just those little things, lol.

It would just be way too much of a task. And there's probably just as many American people reading these stories, if not more.

It's not the spelling that annoys me, just some of the phrases such as candy or soccer.

ok good. this really bugs me when my beta revises it that way. i just think the most important parts are the content of the story, accuracy of the content, and basic grammar. like ratdog and skeloth said, if your writing about the characters you shouldn't say "candy" or "soccer".
it's incredibly difficult for us americans to know what words to spell like you british folk. well maybe not for all americans, but it is for me, at least.

Like already said, it matters more what kind of words are used. I dislike it when people use the American word, but the spelling does not really bother me.

You can get Betas now who will "Britpick" your story to find any Americanisms and correct them.

I agree with Sappp, i don't mind the spellings but the kind of words they use sometimes bug me. =)

British is kool!! but if ur not actually british urself then theres no point in writing that way. =)

I never notice the spellings. I'd be more concerned with bigger faux-pas. Like the way characters talk and the slang they use. That always ruins the story for me.

I'm american. And I know the difference between how american teens and british teens converse.

i actually didn't notice that...but if any...it doesn't matter..as long as the readers understand...right?

I like British spelling more, but it doesn't make a huge difference to me, usually I do not notice that.

I probably write a combination of american and brittish english. As I'm neither american or british myself and I really don't even know or care of such insignicant differences as those. (:

Spelling not so much. But American expressions do annoy me.

^ I totally agree!!! I don't like seeing words like "Douchebag" or "Ass" or "Sidewalk" when I'm reading a HP story..

Spelling doesn't bother me (I sometimes use British spelling :P), but some of the word usage bothers me. especially the ones other countries (not just America, I've seen other countries do this too) know they use things like 'arse' and 'pasties.'