A few people? Really? Now that's just petty.
http://trends.builtwith.com/framework/Ruby-on-Rails
You're entitled to not like 37 Signals or think they give poor advice, but you shouldn't downplay their contribution so much.
I believe a lot of what they have to say is at least interesting to the hacker crowd at large, and as such, they have a place.
I believe you mean:
The amount of exposure HNers give them by submitting and upvoting their posts, and then the endless hours HNers spend debating them…
37S doesn't ask to be on the front page of HN. They don't even appear to submit their own posts. Certainly they don't have a secret vote-sharing group, because HN now has features to discount those.
So personally, I find it pretty hilarious that there's so much sturm und drang about what 37s "gets". Everything they "get" from HN, HNers give them, all on their own initiative.
The amount of exposure they get is extremely out of proportion to what they are and do. They do have it down to a fine art. Even this blog post is designed to get people talking about them - which it's succeeded in doing.
They created ruby on rails, which a few people use, and they make a few webapps. They're not a startup. They give (IMHO) fairly poor startup advice, most of which would only work if you're them.
The 37 signals fanboyism all just gets a little bit too much sometimes. Best to ignore and move on though...