I agree but it seems clear that HN could use some way of letting its like-minded visitors connect.
pg has built a singular and impressive user base, one which benefits from talking to and meeting each other.
I do agree a traditional jobs board would a lame add-on which would exist orthogonally to the stories/comments. Very soon it would be filled by stale jobs (startups move fast), recruiters and people who come just for the jobs section.
The current method of putting up a job post when it seems to be of most utility works, but just barely.
I just don't know if there's any feature you can add which would not feel like a cheap add-on but rather work within the current user-centric community.
The "is anyone looking" approach doesn't work well here. Unlike regular forum threads, HN posts will disappear from the front page very quickly even if people are still replying to it.
You could charge companies $350 per posting and $1000/month to search CVs and finance HN like this. Applicants would be rated by karma, and employers by the 'PG test', which would check whether they use Lisp, have source control, etc. It's a proven model!
Free to post listings, as long as the there is information about the company that is hiring. People can browse companies and listings by tags. Just put a "ycombinator" or "startup" tag there, and I'll approve it quickly.
Users that would like to get more details before applying can do so by registering and letting a comment on the listing page.
