This sucks for one major reason. Sometimes I want to dig up a link that was on HN, and I don't know where else to find it. So I search google with site:ycombinator.com. If they block Google, then that won't work.
At the very least, add a search engine to HN itself so I can search for old links.
Why produce a great site and then not let your users access its valuable content?
Things scroll by the front page so fast it's not really fair not to provide a search feature.
I don't care if they let external search engines (Google et al) index it, but they should at least provide /some/ kind of internal search feature themselves.
IMO providing a search feature is probably at least as effective, if not more so, than the "noprocrast" flag.
After all, if I know I can search past items at any point in the future, I don't feel a pressure to load up the front page several times a day.
Whereas if the fast-scrolling front page is the only way to access items, it encourages that sort of rat-hitting-the-bar behavior I learned about in college psych classes ;)
At the very least, add a search engine to HN itself so I can search for old links.