Actually, if that WAS their rationale I would respect them more...
From what I have seen their rationale seemed to be to get a little noteriety and it spiraled out of control...
Hoaxes can serve a valuable purpose, see my post to McFly below.
Hoaxes intended to expose those that seriously advocate nonsense serve a purpose... That is what this big foot hoax did, but I dont think that was the hoaxers original intent.
The video hoax that really started the big foot cult was not a 'good' hoax, the man who started this nonsense only admitted his hoax decades later....