I'm not sure I understand— how does the fact that I'm unemployed, and therefore have no salary, negate the fact that I have no salary? Are you trying to distinguish between "no salary" and "$0 salary"? They feel pretty equivalent to me.
Again, this is an informal salary pool for HN users. I'm an HN user, and my yearly income, taking into consideration my no stock options, no bonuses, no salary, and no other non-salary compensation, is $0.
In general, do you really think the existence of unemployed hackers who earn $0 yearly is completely irrelevant to anyone who would have an interest in how much hackers are making?
Actually, yes, it is irrelevant, and yes, you don't understand. But it's not your fault. :P You're missing some context: this is a followon to a previous thread: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2438980
The idea isn't to see how much other hackers are making in general. The idea is to see how much companies are paying them, so that people who are being paid much less or more than they're worth can figure that out.
Granted, it's a pretty statistically silly way to go about that given the breadth of HN readership. The posts further down the thread ("PHP Programmers in Baltimore") make more sense.
Not your fault, though. UI guys like to beat up users when they screw up. Don't listen to 'em. You are giving them valuable, valuable information.
Again, this is an informal salary pool for HN users. I'm an HN user, and my yearly income, taking into consideration my no stock options, no bonuses, no salary, and no other non-salary compensation, is $0.
In general, do you really think the existence of unemployed hackers who earn $0 yearly is completely irrelevant to anyone who would have an interest in how much hackers are making?