Maybe not for the HN crowd, but it's a requirement for applying to a lot of places if you're just an average person and/ or not in tech. I only started getting interviews after I finally put a picture on my profile. It sucks, but its used by a LOT of employers if only to try to verify you're an actual person.
You'd have to ask them. They asked why people would use LinkedIn. "I have to have a LinkedIn profile in order to complete this application on Indeed" is a reason.
