Not a marketing campaign, a joke. If you've never done it, you might not think it's worth the effort (and it isn't but it's addictive). When I was in high school, I used to get a thrill out of pretending to be the dumbest person alive and having tons of people make fun of me on the internet. Luckily I'm through that phase but I like to think I can spot a fellow troll. As long as they're not being racist, mean, or abusive it's all good fun. If he took money it's wrong, but I doubt his company has any clients.
It's the classic usenet definition of a troll, deadpanning the wrong side of an argument, forging headers and replying to yourself, stirring up non-existent controversy and getting the semi-clued in to waste time telling people "don't feed the trolls".
Done right and to extremes it's quite a schizophrenic art form. His commitment to the craft is impressive, I can't really recall ever having seen someone sell it so hard and so long without breaking character. The youtube videos [1] from last year especially, even when he throws in an obvious gimme like a letter from a fan that's over the top he does the whole thing without a crack of a smile.
He must work in the infosec world somewhere, it's funny that those that know him don't out him. Not many trolls are willing to go the extra mile and commit their real likeness, etc.
With all that said I'd give it a 50/50 shot the intrusion wasn't fake, I could see a website with an intentional vulnerability or two added to troll the skiddies. It certainly would fit with the rest of the commitment to the performance.
Or he could literally be insane [1]. When someone invests past a certain level, it no longer matters if they're trolling or not. They either really believe what they say, and are therefor insane or they're dedicated to trolling to the point of insanity.
Don't you really mean: You were on IRC all the time, and subjected everyone else bored enough to be on IRC to your lies? You enjoyed acting stupid on IRC, that's fine.
Admit it, you still do. Look at how you talk about it. You haven't moved on.
