Each spirit week, ASB holds a spirit point race on Instagram that encourages each class to show their school spirit using their respective hashtags. During the last spirit week, themed after Stranger Things, a group of freshmen students calling themselves the Spamming Syndicate posted approximately 2,000 fake photos to their hashtag in a mere two days. This led to the disqualification of the freshmen class from the race – the first in Quartz Hill history. While many believed – or hoped – that such antics had ended with the disqualification, such thoughts were far from the truth. During the latest spirit week, the Spamming Syndicate was back again. This time, spreading their efforts over the course of the entire week.

Currently, the Class of ‘22 hashtag has 4,551 posts, but only 152 of them were real. The remaining entries, nearly 4,400 posts, all came from four accounts. Three of these accounts have very similar usernames and posted 3×3 photos of Donkey Kong, Shaquille O’Neal, and a Patrick Star minion, which could indicate that they are all managed by the same person. If so, a single member of the Spamming Syndicate posted over 3,000 fake photos. If not, then the members are collaborating to make this stunt more elaborate than before.

Though, that is not the end of it. The sophomore hashtag has also been spammed. Sitting at a seemingly impressive 791 posts, over 400 of them are, in fact, fake. It seems as if disqualifying the freshmen was not enough for the Spamming Syndicate anymore – they are seeking to infiltrate the remaining student population.

One anonymous participant in the Stranger Things spamming fiasco claims that the original Spamming Syndicate was not the one behind the latest act against the spirit point race. He claims that he had come up with the idea of spamming the freshmen’s hashtag during the Stranger Things spirit week, and convinced his friends to join him in disqualifying the freshmen. However, the spammer insists that he “decided not to spam this last hashtag because if [he is] figured out, [he], along with [his] friends, will be in big trouble.” In fact, the source is worried about how the event will affect him: “These new spammers steal [his] idea and take [his] name, and are making it look like it is [him] again. [He appreciates] that they are doing [his] job for [him], but they could have come up with their own name.”

The actions of this new Spamming Syndicate have, once again, gotten the freshmen disqualified from the spirit-point race. However, their attack on the sophomore hashtag was not enough to get the Class of ‘21 disqualified. Overall, excluding all the counterfeited posts, the sophomores won the week with approximately 380 posts.

Although, this may not be the end for the Spamming Syndicate. The previously mentioned source also claimed that even though this new group of freshmen trouble-makers took his idea, he is open to the option of working with them in the future. By working together, the two Spamming Syndicates may cause more damage to the hashtags than seen this year, and they have three more years to perfect their practice.