Chapter 15 Quiz
Multiple Choice (1 point each)
1. Which of the following behaviors falls at Level 4 (targeted harassment) on the spectrum defined in this chapter?
a) A fan writing a critical tweet about a creator's work b) Sustained, directed campaigns across multiple platforms intended to drive a creator out of online spaces c) A high-follower account retweeting a critical post d) A community voting down a post they disagree with
2. The "deindividuation effect" as applied to fan harassment refers to:
a) The loss of individual fan identity when someone joins a large community b) Reduced individual self-awareness and accountability in group contexts, leading to behavior individuals would not perform alone c) The process by which fan identity develops over time d) The erasure of individual fan creativity through platform algorithms
3. The "1,000 harassers problem" describes a situation in which:
a) A campaign requires 1,000 reports before a platform will act b) Coordinated harassment from many accounts, each individually below the policy-violation threshold, produces collective harm that individual-actor reporting systems cannot address c) A community of 1,000 members is unable to achieve collective action d) Harassment that reaches 1,000 comments triggers automatic platform intervention
4. Research shows that online harassment disproportionately targets:
a) High-follower accounts and community leaders b) New community members who have not learned community norms c) Women, people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and disabled fans d) Users who post controversial opinions about the source material
5. Which form of harassment involves using copyright takedown mechanisms to remove fan creative work and silence fan creators?
a) Doxxing b) SWATting c) DMCA weaponization d) False reporting
6. According to the chapter, why are platform responses to harassment structurally inadequate?
a) Platform employees are not trained to recognize harassment b) Platforms lack the technical capability to identify harassing content c) Economic incentives reward engagement regardless of valence, creating structural tension between harassment enforcement and revenue generation d) Platforms are legally prohibited from removing harassing content
7. The chapter describes Mireille Fontaine's ARMY Discord server as having developed:
a) A formal legal complaint system for harassment cases b) A systematic "safety documentation" protocol for members who face harassment c) An automated bot that detects and removes harassing content d) A partnership with Twitter to address cross-platform harassment campaigns
8. The "parasocial identity investment" concept refers to:
a) Investment of real money in parasocial media relationships b) The extension of self-concept into parasocial relationships and community positions, making challenges to those positions feel like identity threats c) Research investment in studying parasocial dynamics d) Fan investment in official merchandise as identity expression
Short Answer (5 points each)
9. Explain what makes pile-ons different from individual harassment, and why this difference creates specific challenges for platform response systems.
10. IronHeartForever experienced what the chapter describes as harassment that "compounded fan-community dynamics with racist targeting." Describe this dynamic specifically, using the chapter's analysis.
11. What is the "righteous harassment" problem as described through Mireille Fontaine and TheresaK's experiences? What does it reveal about the organizational dynamics of large fan communities?
Essay (15 points)
12. The chapter argues that "harassment in fan communities is a structural problem, not an individual pathology." Write an essay defending this argument, addressing: (1) the specific structural conditions identified in the chapter, (2) why a structural analysis is more analytically useful than an individual-pathology analysis, and (3) what this analysis implies for effective responses to harassment. Your essay should engage with at least one specific example from the chapter.
Length: 400–600 words.
Answer Key
- b
- b
- b
- c
- c
- c
- b
- b