Is there a difference? Is "stan" only an Atrl thing? Discuss!

Fans are casual.

Stans are die hards.

Stan is an obsessed super fan. Listen to Eminems 'stan'

See: every album thread on ATRL.

Stans are gay. Listen to Eminems 'stan'

An st and a f

No, it's not only an ATRL thing.

Fans = casual
Stans = people who are actively in the fanbase/fandom, people who keep up with their fave's daily activities, people who usually know their fave's receipts off the bat, people who get very defensive/protective over their faves, etc

At least this is the difference for me.

Fans - Actively follows an artist's work and realizes that their preferred artist's music/image/concept is a job for them and that the artist is fulfilling their own business obligations

Stans - Actively follows an artist's work, thinks the artist is their friend or actually gives a **** about them, believes everything their preferred act does (music and image) is reality, thinks they are entitled to an artist's attention and can/deserve to direct their activities and decisions for them, is a ****wit, etc.

The fan part isnt right
Its casual

Fans are rational and can admit the faults of their favs.

Stans cannot.

I always thought of a Stan as someone who follows there fave closely, like daily and knows and the ins and outs of their career and trivial sruff. your fave has to be alive though, cuz you can't follow someone who's dead.

A fan is just a casual follower, may know of few things about an artist like where there from but that's about it.

Fans are normal, don't have unhealthy obsessions with artists, don't get into overly petty arguments. Fans can handle it when their fave is criticized. Fans don't harass others over the Internet.

I'm a fan not a Stan.

Yeah, pretty much.

Fans aren't on forums talking about their favorite artists everyday. They don't keep up with how many awards their fav has or how many albums they sold. They just buy the music and enjoy it and move on.

Stans is basically the superfans or fanboy/girl.

Me, I stan for: Beyoncé | Rihanna | Ciara | FKA Twigs | Mariah Carey | Nicki Minaj | Aaliyah | Troye Sivan

I fan for: Purity Ring | Beck | Azealia Banks | Kendrick Lamar | Lady Gaga | Selena Gomez | Jay-Z | Drake | Jazmine Sullivan | Halsey

Stans think about their fave or do something that relates to their fave at least a few times a day. They "carry" their fave with them. It's almost like their fave is part of who they are. The devotion borders on religious.

Fans are able to distance themselves when nothing is going on (e.g. between eras).

I agree with this. For example I don't stan any artist but I check from time to time on a few people I like. I wouldn't get into arguments on here, Twitter, Facebook or whatever over them. If there's a disagreement, I'll just ignore it since everyone is entitled to their music tastes.

However, a stan stalks their fave daily, thinks about them, tweets them nonstop, and will basically murder you to prove their fave has good music, talent or amazing sales (or at least in respect to whoever you like or stan for in that given discussion).

Casual music listeners/fans are more like people who will go out and stream a album, tweet the artist about it like twice, maybe make a facebook status about it, then move on to the next artist without ever listening to it again.