What makes HN valuable is the community. Smart, relevant and immediate conversations. I dare to say this idea exploits, over-extends and misappropriates what value is present here.
The intention to contact all commenter's of 80+ vote stories is ... let's say typing is easier than doing (see: google buzz debacle).
What I am surprised about is when he says that he obtained permission for at least 50% of articles to be reprinted in his Monthly (if I understand it correctly). So some professional journalist or blogger toils for days to produce some article, and then just allow someone to reprint it without compensation? Moreover, if the article was printed in some commercial media like NYT, shouldn't also NYT grant the permission?