Murder Sheet – "True Crime Wave: True Crime Fandom with Monia Ali of Fandom Exile"

Release Date: December 11, 2025
Hosts: Áine Cain and Kevin Greenlee
Guest: Monia Ali (Fandom Exile)

Episode Overview

This episode takes an in-depth look at the “fandomification” of true crime, exploring how traditional fan behaviors—and the corporate structures that encourage them—are seeping into true crime communities and shaping the ways audiences engage with cases, creators, and even real-life suspects and victims. The hosts are joined by Monia Ali, writer of the Fandom Exile Substack and a former "Stan," who brings academic and personal insights into fandom culture, its prosocial and antisocial aspects, and how these dynamics play out specifically in true crime spaces.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Language of Fandom and "Standom"

• Definitions and History

  • Monia Ali: Describes early engagement in fandom, from creating fan sites at age 11 to later involvement in super-fandom ("stanning") (06:07–07:07).
    • “I jokingly say that I was exiled from the fandom, which is why my substack is Fandom Exile.” (07:22)
  • The term "Stan" is a blend of "stalker" and "fan," popularized by Eminem’s song but also a business term ("superfan") (09:28–10:22).

• Escalation and Industry Influence

  • The episode highlights how internet platforms funnel users into deeper patterns of engagement, often blurring the pro-social bonds of fandom with the intense, exclusionary aspects of super-fandom or Standom (11:14–12:45).
    • “Fandom is pro-social and standom or super fandom is antisocial.” – Monia Ali (12:42)

Fandom and True Crime: The Blurring of Boundaries

• Fandom Structures Fueling True Crime Fervor

  • Online infrastructure and algorithmic encouragement create self-reinforcing communities where investment—emotional, monetary, and time—intensifies group behaviors (11:14–12:45).

• Corporate Manipulation

  • Ali explains that record labels or media conglomerates profit from cultivating and sometimes pitting fan armies against each other, drawing parallels to the rivalry of Backstreet Boys and NSYNC in the 1990s (14:15–15:56).

Fandom in Spaces of Fact and Ethics

• The Danger of Fandom Reflexes in Truth-oriented Domains

  • Áine Cain raises concerns about fan-driven behavior infecting spaces where truth and fact matter—like crime and journalism—potentially creating “tribes” that resist critical engagement (19:46–20:39).
    • “When we see the kind of fandom culture bleed into spaces where we are talking about facts and like the truth...that’s where I see this get really risky.” – Áine Cain (19:46)

• Case Studies: Real-world Harm

  • Ali discusses the K-pop Burning Sun scandal, where fans attacked journalists reporting on criminal acts committed by their idols (20:39–22:08).
  • The Sunil Tripathi case serves as an example of online amateur sleuthing turning tragic, with Reddit users misidentifying a Boston bombing suspect, leading to harassment and the eventual suicide of the accused (24:36–26:11).

Modes of Fan Engagement

• Three Modes

  • Affirmational: Fans catalog facts and celebrate canon, aiming for accurate record-keeping.
  • Transformational: Fans remix or imagine new narratives (fanfic, theorizing).
  • Forensic: Fans act like detectives, piecing together clues from real or fictional events (22:14–23:38).

• Forensic Mode in True Crime

  • This third mode explains the appeal and dangers of true crime fandom: vigorous amateur investigation can both aid and derail justice or traumatize real people (23:38–24:36).
    • “Forensic fandom...was invented for shows like Lost...but it's where true crime fans fit in.” – Monia Ali (22:14)

The Human Need to Form Fandoms

• Historic and Psychological Perspective
  • Ali recounts how collective obsession is nothing new, referencing Charles Dickens and Sherlock Holmes fandoms (27:39–28:12).
  • The need for belonging is deeply human; the internet just supercharges and scales these communities (26:11–28:28).

Dangers of Tribalism and Online Dynamics

• Internet "Greenhouses" and Groupthink

  • Discussion of how Discord, Reddit, and TikTok communities push members to adopt in-group views and antagonize outsiders (31:37–33:41).
  • "Parasocial relationships" and “imaginary social worlds” mean that facts are filtered through fans’ internal narratives, making it difficult to accept challenging information (34:50–35:56).

• Politicization and the “Order Only What You Want” Mentality

  • Citing the Danny Masterson and Steven Avery cases, Ali outlines how political beliefs and personal alliances distort interpretations of facts and evidence (32:32–33:41).

Celebrity, Fame, and the Commodification of Crime

• From Creators to Cult Leaders
  • Attorneys, suspects, or witnesses in cases become “idols” to fan communities, sometimes launching new careers off of trial fame (54:34–55:51).
    • “When trials become essentially carnivals...food trucks start to roll up...is this a tailgating event or is it a trial?” – Monia Ali (55:07)

Calls for Ethical, Reflective Engagement

• Fans vs. Audience

  • Áine argues creators should seek critical audiences, not blind fans, inviting feedback to improve journalistic accuracy and integrity (55:59–56:52).
    • “Fans are just, you know, no, they did everything right...that prevents a creator from, in my opinion, growing and getting better.” – Áine Cain (56:49)

• Red Flags: Emotional Appeals from Creators

  • Watch for creators who guilt-trip or emotionally manipulate their audiences (“calls to action”) as a warning sign of unhealthy fan dynamics (56:52–58:02).

Corporate Reward Structures and Their Consequences

• Industry-Driven Toxicity
  • Ali discusses how industry players quietly encourage and reward obsessive behaviors—such as providing “insider info” only to the most ardent (or stalkerish) fans—because it’s profitable (60:12–61:23).

Solutions and Advice

• Critical Thinking and Self-Honesty

  • Ali advises regular self-checks: If you’d experience distress at being proven wrong, you may be overly attached to beliefs about a case. Remain honest about your emotional investment (79:43–81:14).
    • “You might still be correct in your thinking, but you might be relating to it, attached to it in a way that is not for your best.” – Monia Ali (81:14)

• Fandoms in True Crime:

  • Ali doubts that healthy, collective true crime fandom is fully possible, but sees value in communities centered on affirmational (fact-focused) engagement (84:03–85:55).
    • “I do find it very difficult to picture a normal, healthy fandom when we're talking about, like, criminal stuff." – Monia Ali (84:10)

• Recognize Entertainment vs. Fact

  • Both Cain and Ali urge skepticism toward dramatized or "entertaining" content and urge listeners not to turn off their critical faculties in the face of compelling narratives (44:59–45:46).

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Standom's Dangers:
  • "Standom is inherently unhealthy...once you fall out of it that you’re like, what was I doing? That was crazy.” – Monia Ali [79:43]
• On Fandom as a Human Experience:
  • “It is fully like, it’s a human tendency to want to, you know, commune with other people over things that we love...” – Monia Ali [28:12]
• On Parasocial Relationships:
  • “The more parasocial it is, the more you've filled in the blanks with what you believe...when something comes up that challenges it, suddenly it becomes very hard to take in...” – Monia Ali [34:50]
• On True Crime Creators and Ethics:
  • “When creators start to do appeals to motion and guilt-tripping...that’s a red flag.” – Monia Ali [56:52]
• On Internet Dynamics:
  • "The loudest are not necessarily the majority...catering to social media doesn’t lead to a win in a case necessarily." – Monia Ali [74:46]
• On Forensic Fandom:
  • “That is where true crime fans fit in...forensic fandom...make fans into researchers who are investigating, who are digging, who are trying to find patterns..." – Monia Ali [22:14]
• On Emotional Investment:
  • “If your first thought about being wrong is 'my stomach hurts,' like, I feel stressed out at thinking that maybe I'm wrong, then you might already have, like, a certain attachment...” – Monia Ali [81:14]
• On Commodifying Crime:
  • “When trials become essentially carnivals, where...the merch stands...is this a tailgating event or is it a trial?” – Monia Ali [55:07]

Key Timestamps

• 02:31–04:44: Introduction to episode’s main theme: the "fandomification" of true crime communities.
• 06:04–08:12: Monia Ali describes her background in fandoms and the transition from “fan” to “Stan.”
• 09:28–10:22: Defining “Stan” and its adoption in business (“superfan”).
• 11:14–12:45: How online infrastructure intensifies and weaponizes group engagement.
• 20:39–22:08: The Burning Sun scandal—real-world consequences of fan attacks on journalists.
• 22:14–23:38: Affirmational, Transformative, and Forensic fandom in true crime.
• 24:36–26:11: The Sunil Tripathi case and the dangers of amateur sleuthing.
• 34:50–35:56: The role of parasocial relationships and "imaginary social worlds" in tribalizing case opinions.
• 54:34–55:51: The “idolatry” of true crime figures and trials as “carnivals.”
• 56:52–58:02: Red flags—emotional manipulation and appeals in creator-audience relationships.
• 79:43–81:14: Advice on emotional honesty, self-awareness, and affective forecasting for fans.
• 84:03–85:55: Can true crime have positive fandoms? Complications and boundaries.
• 87:32–91:35: The importance of remaining critically engaged, acknowledging complexity.
• 92:06–92:42: Conclusion: final thoughts and farewells.

Final Thoughts

The episode provides a nuanced exploration of the convergence between fandom culture and true crime—highlighting both the profound human need for connection and the significant risks when these impulses go unexamined in fact-based, high-stakes contexts. Monia Ali and the hosts take care to avoid demonizing individual fans, stressing instead the power of corporate incentives, the dangers of tribal thinking, and the importance of conscious, ethical engagement for creators and audiences alike.

— For more, check out Fandom Exile as recommended by the hosts. —