[hnysacct]

A bunch of freelancer and recruiting type sites do that as well. However they make it easy for you to have your information removed.

> Is it like a Silicon-Valley-esque VC numbers pumping game or what?

That is my initial thought too. If you create a website and create shadow accounts or "LinkedData" then you're creating the illusion that you have a larger following than you really do.

Whether that was gitpay's intention, probably not.