After that initial discovery, the signal got amplified on SA and other places, which is where I definitely agree with you that he got promoted.
Also, I have a feeling that Chris would have gone viral anyways a la Coppercab, there's a lot of exceptional stuff that he did around that time (the Adam Stackhouse stuff..etc).
Plus, consider that Chris has something in common with a lot of cows and communities we cover, I think he would have blown up on the internet in some way. Would he have still gotten the same level of attention and trolling? I don't know.