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It's not fake praise vs harassment, it's fake praise vs fake criticism.

In any case this will make for an excellent marketing campaign. I don't even know what the book is about (I assume something politically charged because of this campaign) but now I know the book!

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I do not believe that the author has faked their own fake criticism in this case, but this marketing tactic has been used successfully before by others.

It can be [and is] fake criticism and harassment at the same time. These are not mutually exclusive in the slightest.

Excerpt from the article: "Jason: I saw one troll spoofing your name and picture post an extremely nasty, long-winded comment on Goodreads, discussing intimate details of your family life and making it sound like you want to kill yourself. None of this could be considered a review of your book by any conceivable means, yet Goodreads still hasn't removed it. What's going on here?"

I'm really curious how anybody thinks this isn't harassment.

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