I'm wondering the same thing. Presumably the question asker was trying to promote his hosting company. It seems like a pretty risky way to promote your business though. I mean, maybe the old saying that any publicity is good publicity holds true. But I don't remember seeing the actual name of the company anywhere in the Independent article. (Maybe there was more or different coverage in Italy). It seems like most prospective customers would, at best, see this guy acting like a clown, which wouldn't inspire confidence.
Or, maybe the whole thing was created by some kind of creative marketing agency trying to show off how they can "make things go viral" and get press?
Funny thing about this "viral" metaphor - you can only pull off any given stunt once (at least in the period of several year). Internet has a sort of immune system that doesn't like copycats.
RE strategy, I think it might have been just exactly what happened - first post a story, then wait for it to go viral, then admit to faking it, thus putting yourself in the spotlight.
It is a risky strategy though. Personally, if he was running this business in my country, I'd immediately put him on my personal blacklist ("never ever do business with this person or company") and I'd be urging anyone I know who uses his services to change the provider.
> Server fault community is now indignant about using their community ( which is for answering real questions ) as a deceptive marketing platform.
...for someone else's gain. Remember that the majority of employees at SO are selling advertisement. It is a huge marketing platform (that I use heavily, don't get me wrong)
While technically true, I don't think it is in any way comparable. SO ads are the extinction-level rare breed of ads that are a) unobtrusive and b) actually relevant.