Seriously, uncovering data on lay offs and firings can only better people. I think HN keeps having ideas pop off like this precisely by its nature. If you go to a local automotive club there's going to be a lot of side projects on display. I would worry about HN becoming stale and (worse) irrelevant if it weren't doing these things.
I agree that it's smart and that's why it doesn't sit well with me : it's hacking community dynamics ( know interests and an encouraging attitude toward personal projects) into a revenue channel. A possible long-term consequence - HN slowly turning into a proto-producthunt - and a short-term one - a decrease in quality -concern me.
That being said, i do see the interest of the indicator. My comment is more about the trend highlighted by this post.
I actually find this idea very interesting and would love to subscribe to notifications about which companies are laying off workers or see trends about how many people are being laid off per week/month. As an investor, this is a nice data point that shows the health of the tech sector.
What exactly is wrong with capitalizing on interest here? Sounds smart to me - you know you're solving a real problem and you have a free marketing channel... So many people built stuff that nobody wants.