If you go through the whoishiring posts, you'll see some people actually do give numbers. For example, scribd:
> We've hired SIX full-time people and TONS of interns from these "Who is Hiring" threads ... it really works!
> We've hired SIX full-time people and TONS of interns from these "Who is Hiring" threads ... it really works!
My specific question is regarding the https://news.ycombinator.com/jobs
Also, some of the jobs show up on the homepage, how do they fare?