Yeah, you know, I looked that up recently to see what it was about, and was surprised by how low-key the puppeted comments were. Seems like the outrage was over the fact of the deceit rather than the message it was purposed to carry.
Yeah, it's not so much what he said (although, some of the comments were a bit trollish/childish), but the fact that he simply used a sockpuppet to praise himself, instead of doing what every other respectable author (who chooses to engage fans) does. I mean, look at Mark Lawrence or Abercrombie or Daniel Abraham on Westeros... Can you imagine any of those, or say someone like GRRM or Robin Hobb, would do something similar?
At least if you're going to do it, don't expose yourself later and look like an idiot.
Of all the authors out there, it had to be Bakker...