Instructions: Please rate your degree of agreement with the following items regarding your favorite fan interest.
Strongly Disagree 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Strongly Agree
1. Some people who call themselves fans aren’t “true” fans of my favorite interest.
2. Some content that people say is part of my fan interest really doesn’t count.
3. It’s too easy for someone to join my fan community.
4. I enjoy comparing myself to other fans to see who is the bigger fan.
5. I’m not shy about telling certain people that they don’t belong in my fan interest community.
6. My fan interest community would benefit from making it a bit harder for people to get in.
7. Being a fan of my fan interest today means less than it used to.
8. There ought to be a clear line between who counts as being a fan and who does not.
9. There is such a thing as a “poser” or “wannabe” fan.
10. A person needs to be in the fandom for a while before they can call themselves a real fan.
Scoring: Average the 10 items.
Cite: Plante, C. N., Reysen, S., Chadborn, D., Roberts, S. E., & Gerbasi, K. C. (2020). ‘Get out of my fandom newbie’: A cross-fandom study of elitism and gatekeeping in fans. Journal of Fandom Studies, 8(2), 123–146. https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00013_1
Purpose: The purpose of the scale is to assess fans’ degree of gatekeeping.
Note: The present scale was adapted for fans in general. You can adapt to reference a specific fan group.