Unidan
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Ben Eisenkop | |
---|---|
Born | 1985 or 1986 (age 38–39) |
Nationality | United States |
Other names | Unidan (pseudonym) UnidanX (pseudonym) |
Citizenship | United States |
Alma mater | BS in Biology and BS in Environmental Science from Binghamton University |
Known for | Answering questions about biology and ecology on, being banned for vote manipulation on Reddit |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Biology, ecology |
Institutions | Binghamton University, New York, United States |
Patrons |
Ben Eisenkop, better known by his pseudonym RealUnidan, is a doctoral candidate in biology at Binghamton University, who became popular on the social media website Reddit as the "excited biologist" who answers questions and explains concepts related to biology and ecology.[1][2][3]
Background
Eisenkop earned his bachelor's degrees in biology and environmental science from Binghamton University in Vestal, New York, and is currently a doctoral student there. He works as a graduate instructor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Binghamton University, teaching courses in biology, ecology, and environmental science. His doctoral research is on ecosystem ecology; he studies how communally roosting crows in New York affect the environment. [2][4][5]
Eisenkop enjoys doing improv comedy, and has performed at Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre.[6]
Popularity on Reddit
On July 30, 2014, it was announced to the Reddit community that Eisenkop had been using five alternate (or "alt") accounts in addition to his well-known Unidan username to fraudulently manipulate voting for his own posts and comments while also allowing him to cast additional votes against those posts he found disagreeable.[7] This allowed him to boost all of his content on Reddit up the listings while pushing other content further down. As this violates Reddit's site rules, Eisenkop's Unidan username was revoked and, following his own admission of guilt using his new username RealUnidan, he claimed(though this has not been verified) to have deleted all of the existing "alt" accounts he previously used for vote manipulation.[8][9]
References
- ^ "'I am the Excited Biologist! AMA': Unidan's Reddit AMA". Reddit. April 25, 2013. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
- ^ a b Rahman, Tania (October 11, 2013). "Binghamton University TA schools Reddit". Binghamton University Pipe Dream. Vestal, New York: Binghamton University. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ Silverman, Matt (April 26, 2013). "'Excited Biologist' Captures Hearts and Minds of Reddit". Mashable. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ "How u/Unidan became Reddit's go-to science guy". Fox News. March 17, 2014. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ Shea, Anna (February 25, 2014). "Reddit, Research and the Strange Case of /u/Unidan". University of Melbourne. Retrieved April 15, 2014.
- ^ Fenn, Mike (November 14, 2013). "This ecologist and amateur comic is the most popular man on Reddit". The Daily Dot. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
- ^ http://reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2c63wg/how_reddit_works/cjccfyt?context=1
- ^ http://www.reddit.com/rules
- ^ http://reddit.com/r/blog/comments/2c63wg/how_reddit_works/cjccfyt