You are always saying "real fans" this and "real fans" that but what's a real fan to you? You talked so much shit about people liking Lochte after London and then you were pissed when people said you weren't a real fan because you came into liking one direction late and now mark mcmorris so I'm wondering what you consider a real fan to be?
I totally see your point on how I hated Ryan's new fans. But I hated them because 99% of them liked him just because they thought he was hot. They didn't care about him or his career or anything except how hot he was and kept calling him stupid and dumb. In fact I hate the old ones just as bad if not worse. I was pissed off about people hating on me over the boys and McMorris because they assume I only care about them for the reasons I hated Ryan fans. And most seemed to feel like they has superiority because they "liked them first". It's annoying.So to answer your question, time doesn't matter. Like you can start liking Ryan or anyone tomorrow, but if you're not ride or die or, at the very least, seriously liking more than their looks, then I don't consider you a real fan. I think (for the most part) need to actually care about them and what they're doing. Your interests need to reach beyond "OMG HES SO HOT BUT SO DUMB STOP TALKING U LOOK BETTER WHEB UR QUIET!!!" Thinking they're hot is fine, obviously, but if that's all you care about then no, you're not a fan.