From the application:
Well, first off, it's supposed to be fun. If you don't see the joy in either of these puzzles, please don't apply.
Seems fair to me.
Set high standards. You can always lower them later.
If the filter were genuinely indicative of that, that would be great. However, my guess is that working there is quite different from doing makework puzzles for no pay (I hope, at least!).
I don't think you get a good idea of what a place is like until you sit down and talk to the people involved and see the code. At least that much is possible.
The puzzles are in the links provided, why didn't you just go read them?
* You have the time to post on HN strongly implying that these "puzzles" are likely not that great (they're not even puzzles to start with)
* You have the time to purposefully misread replies (I suggested that you go read them before judging them, not that you go work on them) and reply yourself
* But you don't have the time to click on a link and read 20 lines of text?
The point is not whether I clicked through or not, the point is whether I'm going to spend my free time on my own projects, or completely useless projects for some company - they're not even things the company needs!
I'm more than happy to be judged on the merits of what I've produced, both proprietary and open source, rather than fooling around with invented puzzles.
Nevertheless, programming puzzles are like catnip to me, so I don't mind solving them as part of a job interview process (or at least, I didn't mind the last time I was actually looking).
I would NEVER say that I have a superior strategy to you, or that you have a superior strategy, or that programming puzzles are an excellent filter, or a terrible one. Just that some people will like them, and some not.
You don't, that much is obvious. Or at least, you don't in the context of a job application. Fair enough, and nobody should ever suggest that (a) This is a bad idea on your part, or (b) on the basis of your anecdotal evidence, this is a bad idea on Reddit's part.