Well, that's exactly right: "every developer knows that the number of lines of code can mean a multitude of things good or bad."

So the goal is to display your sophistication and level of experience by showing your performance with numbers that are appropriate to your level and skill. Something that, when you're asked about it, demonstrates your capabilities, and your ability to delve into the technical details, in a way that only someone at your level could do.

Again, thanks for the feedback. The comments on this post, as usual for Hacker News, are phenomenal and informed. I think I've come up with at least 3 additional posts just based on everyone's feedbacks and critiques!