diff --git a/changelog.d/2164.bugfix.md b/changelog.d/2164.bugfix.md
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..59ef5043d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/2164.bugfix.md
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Fixed event tracking forgetting to mark soft-failed/rejected events as referenced, which caused a build-up of incorrectly unreferenced events, triggering frequent dummy squashes and associated state resets.
diff --git a/src/service/rooms/timeline/append.rs b/src/service/rooms/timeline/append.rs
index f4b53a785..35b3771d1 100644
--- a/src/service/rooms/timeline/append.rs
+++ b/src/service/rooms/timeline/append.rs
@@ -210,7 +210,9 @@ async fn progress_state_and_extremities(
 		let room_id = incoming_pdu.room_id_or_hash();
 		while let Some(prev_event_id) = ancestors_todo.pop_front() {
 			new_extremities.remove(&prev_event_id);
-			self.services.pdu_metadata.mark_as_referenced(&room_id, once(prev_event_id.as_ref()));
+			self.services
+				.pdu_metadata
+				.mark_as_referenced(&room_id, once(prev_event_id.as_ref()));
 			let Ok(prev_event) = self.get_pdu(&prev_event_id).await else {
 				continue;
 			};