The argument was, he was deflecting attention away from him towards others - which, as this thread for the parent poster shows, worked.
I don't think he was clever enough to have foresight that a) this would get this much attention, and b) he would need to deflect said attention by fabricating an elaborate hoax.
The guy was simply wanting to brag about what he did in the excitement of him actually pulling it off. I think this is much more believable than him fabricating this story.
Not being snarky, that's a real question. I don't know the minds and rationale of hackers.
I generally get the impression hackers honestly feel they're invincible, until they get caught. Maybe that's a misperception though.
A simple google search for the email swiped@live.com revealed this link http://mydomaintest.com/index.php?query=getgamesfree.net with owner douglas
A password reset on that account shows the following accounts listed. do * * * @gmail.com do * * * @aim.com
A password reset on aim.com for user name douglas(just guessing) also revealed the email d * * * *8@froze.org
Searching for the name douglas parmele and 5167, brenda gave a result http://welfare.im/dox/index.php?name=communist
There is a reference of froze.us in the dox.
Here you get his hackerforums.net profile http://www.hackforums.net/member.php?action=profile&uid=1399...
search for his posts and you see most of them are selling novelty twitter and other accounts
http://www.hackforums.net/search.php?action=results&sid=953a...
Here he gives out advice on securing accounts. http://www.hackforums.net/showthread.php?tid=3610513
You have to have an account on hackforums.net to view those links.