Comparison between SN impostor candidate PTF11qnf and events from the literature (R/r-band absolute magnitudes). For PTF11qnf, we show the light-curve assuming two different combinations of distance modulus and host extinction: μ = 34.11 mag given in Table 5 and the E(B − V)_host from Sect. 3, as well as assuming the Tully-Fisher based μ = 32.94 mag (Lagattuta et al. 2013) and the E(B − V)_host estimated in Sect. 5.3. Using the latter combination of μ and E(B − V)_host a similarity between PTF11qnf and SNhunt248 can be discerned. SNhunt248 (Kankare et al. 2015), SN 2011A (de Jaeger et al. 2015), SN 2009kn (Kankare et al. 2012), and U2773-OT (2009 outburst; Smith et al. 2010) are shown with distance moduli and extinction values are taken from the cited papers. Epoch 0 d is set at the first detection in the light-curve (for PTF11qnf, SN 2009kn, and SN 2011A) or the observed start of the outburst episodes (for SNhunt248 and U2773-OT). Lines are drawn to guide the eye.