Unidan, 'the Excited Biologist,' Banned for Vote Manipulation with Sockpuppet Accounts

Ben Eisenkop, posting as Unidan, became one of Reddit's most beloved users as the 'excited biologist' who answered ecology and biology questions in enthusiastic, accessible detail. His popularity, including a 2013 'I am the Excited Biologist! AMA' and well over a million comment karma, translated into real-world opportunities such as writing for Mental Floss and receiving university speaking invitations. He was, by any measure, an organically successful contributor whose comments were upvoted on their merits.

In late July 2014 his account was abruptly shadowbanned for vote manipulation. Reddit admins found that Eisenkop had used at least five alternate ('sockpuppet') accounts to upvote his own submissions and comments and to downvote posts and people he was competing or arguing with. An admin explained the mechanics publicly: because early votes disproportionately influence a post's visibility and ranking, a coordinated swing of even a handful of his own up- and down-votes could meaningfully tilt which content rose and which sank, giving his material an artificial boost.

The manipulation came to light during a now-infamous argument over whether jackdaws belong to the crow family, in which Unidan repeatedly insisted that 'no one calls jackdaws crows.' The heated, pedantic dispute drew unusual scrutiny to the thread, and observers noticed that the rival commenter's posts were being driven down while Unidan's climbed — a pattern that, on investigation, traced back to his cluster of alternate accounts. The triviality of the underlying disagreement, set against the seriousness of the offense, gave the saga its enduring comic-tragic quality.

Eisenkop did not contest the core finding. He publicly admitted wrongdoing via a new account, UnidanX, calling the sockpuppeting 'a really stupid move on my part' and acknowledging that he had let competitiveness override judgment. He attempted to rebuild a presence under the successor account and continued some science outreach, but the rehabilitation was partial at best, and the 'jackdaw' argument became a permanent piece of Reddit lore invoked whenever vote-manipulation or moderator/power-user hypocrisy is discussed.