By ERIC SEO and COOPER RATHMANN
Beloit College has had a lingering taste of online discourse in its mouth, and now, we are chewing on a meal of it. Anonymous Instagram accounts have been popping up left and right as of late – some more tame than others. From sports teams to penis jokes to name-and-shame callouts to discussions around sexual assault on campus, these accounts let students spread their thoughts and opinions behind unidentifiable Google Forms. Some students argue that these accounts have a place as a voice for the voiceless, where dissenting voices can be heard and seen, while others assert that this behavior is juvenile and cowardly, equating it to that of middle school drama. These accounts bring into question: where is the line between hate speech and criticism? How should we balance free speech in the face of bullying? Why are Beloiters fascinated with these accounts?
Upperclassmen may note that the presence of these accounts is not novel on our campus. Rosa Coit‘25 recalls an account “Beloit Missed Connections” in 2021 and 2022 that sought to bring together students with romantic interests. The account began with people discussing their campus crushes and complementing those around them, submitting anonymous responses as a Google Form reply whose screenshot was then disseminated publicly. However, it devolved, at times, with students describing concerning fantasies and the assault-like actions they desired to take against specific individuals. It made for some cute interactions between students, but also gave way for students to share hate speech.
This fall, Beloit College has once again been graced with a series of anonymous Instagram accounts, with the introduction of @beloitbucsbarstool, @turtlehq.24, and @naughtyturtles.24. Last year, we saw the same with accounts like @belwah.tattle.turtle and @bucchearstruck taking over Instagram feeds. Beloitbucsbarstool follows a formula designed by others, posting about sporting events and silly pictures from around campus. Turtlehq.24 and naughtyturtles.24, on the other hand, are natural descendants of missed connections, trying to give a space for romantic confessions. However, they have quickly transformed into communities for gossip and hate speech. Sammy Slabaugh‘26 feels “like [they] show the worst parts… the Beloit community… Because everyone is anonymous, they feel like they can say whatever the hell they want… How do we know that anything being said is true?”
Indeed, the anonymity behind these posts are what push them forward – posts that say things like “stop using the elevator to go up or down one floor. it’s one set of stairs you fucking annoying fatass bitches,” “I railed a senior when I was in my junior year and that was the best sex of my life…,” “how do i respectfully ask my gf to sit on my face,” “BiNg bONg,” and “one time I was visiting… in bushnell n I went to the bathroom n I accidentally saw a little sum… still one of the greatest things I ever seen.” The power of anonymity reigns supreme in these types of situations, especially when the campus population is sufficiently small such that the word of anyone doing anything spreads quicker than the mold in Bushnell.
Some of these posts are clearly intended entirely to elicit a reaction and entertain, but others discuss more serious matters, adopting the topics of assault, sexism, hate speech, homophobia, and more. One Beloit professor notes that these types of posts are “incredibly demoralizing and create an atmosphere of fear and mistrust for marginalized people… it is a real problem and we cannot just ignore it… there has to be a culture of accountability.”
Beloitbucsbarstool remains at large, too, even taunting followers and students with a post of a group of Ronald McDonalds captioned “How you all look trying to figure out runs this account,” implying those who are trying to break the anonymity of the account are a bunch of clowns. While this may cause the unknown owner to be cocky, some argue that their account has not led to any controversy or uproar due to their respective content. However, beloitbucsbarstool has recently solicited photographs of students around campus, suggesting that we should take embarrassing pictures of people and post them online without their consent. Although this can be considered as benign jokes, it may be a slippery slope towards a distrusting campus with residents uncomfortable living on it.
When asked to comment on the matter of anonymous accounts, beloitbucsbarstool themselves expressed that they “think anonymous accounts are all fun and games but negative comments about others or spreading negativity period is when it’s not. That’s why we try to steer away from anything negative or taking serious jabs at people.”
Turtlehq.24 takes a different stance on the matter; “Honestly we hate pages like these. But at the same time, we know we go to school with too many cowards that don’t have the guts to outright say what’s on their minds.” They further claim that their “goal is not to spread hate but there are some hot takes that deserve the space.” Despite this, some of these “hot takes” have the power to spark arguments and group beef among the organizations around campus, especially whenever politics is thrown into the mix. Turtlehq.24 has the awareness of the possible situations; “we never had the intention with this page of putting clubs against each other or even outing a person, it’s things we’ve kept to ourselves.” Therefore, these accounts also act in the best interest of protecting student’s reputations and images through their anonymity and privacy toward their submissions.
When asked about how they decide what they post, turtlehq.24 asserted that “the reaction we might get from our followers” helps them decide where the line between free speech and bullying is. Even though they claim that they want to “give a space for some topics and takes that need to be heard/shared,” it is clear that they only care about what will be well received. It seems that they decide what needs to be shared based on what Beloiters won’t cancel them for posting.
One of the issues these accounts inevitably face is when they go dormant or in a way “become irrelevant”. It is in typical Beloit fashion for the account to wither out at some point after a “final straw” post or just the masses lose their interest in what is being posted. However, some owners of these anonymous accounts are able to utilize their platform for promotions of other events and gaining more attention. For example, Ezekiel Kingsbury‘25, the former owner of the @beloit.affirmations, said that he “used the old following of the affirmations account to spread the word about Pete Fest”, which was a musical festival hosted by The Round Table last spring. The successful switch of the account from the affirmations to the @petefest.prom.2024 was indeed a tactical move for Kingsbury and his crew as the show out at Petefest was tremendous.
Furthermore, Kingsbury talked about his time running the affirmations and the genuine joy he got from being super silly by saying “me and my friend Sophia Nitsche‘25 would come up with hilarious jokes… about old staff members and professors”. Perhaps most importantly, the primary difference between the affirmations and the newest wave of accounts is that the affirmations never took student requests, which in turn “doesn’t come with the social cost of you not knowing which students are thinking this [rumor] about you,” Kingsbury says. The social cost and unknown beliefs are what eventually become leading factors into the downfall of the anonymous accounts, specifically those that rely on the student requests.
It is for certain that being the owner of an anonymous account has its own thrill, and while this role comes with its respective benefits and repercussions it also comes with the responsibility to keep the student body safe. Therefore, post responsibly but at the same time enjoy the funny comments and posts while they’re still alive.
Featured Image from PickPic
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