This is slightly off topic, but I have noticed that about half the time on HC when someone says contact me that they have no contact details in their profile.
I suspect that's because HN doesn't make it clear that your email isn't publicly visible on your profile.
I can't think of a single website where your email is publicly visible on your profile by default.
I suspect you are right. If it were any other site I would send a suggestion off to YC, but there is no point as nothing about HC will change.
of course but if the product is terrible spectacular marketing only gets you so far (which honestly exactly where i think we are - after lots of high touch sales we got some pilots despite product deficiencies)