Throw-away accounts on HN are quite common as are lurkers and the length of membership is irrelevant to the point.

Apple gets coverage because they are simply interesting to write about. On the other hand, the recent page one love fest on HN for the last MBP announcement was grossly disproportionate to it's importance.

> How long have you been on Hacker News? Your account is only 20 days old; can you pass adequate judgment on the matter?

So, if a person's userid is 20 days old, then does it directly mean that the person has been using the site for only 20 days? what kind of logic is this?

Hence why I asked if they can pass adequate judgment on the matter, which I've now realized sounds horribly condescending.

Even so, I think the majority of frequent HN-readers (ie, those able of passing judgment on its trends) will have set-up an account, and I think the age of this account is a good indicator of how long you've spent reading it.