Good question, and thank you for the question. Both at the time of my initial development several years ago, and including now when I just tested it, scraping h

Good question, and thank you for the question. Both at the time of my initial development several years ago, and including now when I just tested it, scraping has faster response times (cache invalidations) to profile updates than the API. This saves the user of my site being frustrated that they put the code in their profile, but they keep smashing the "Check again" button to no avail. To be fair the API's cache invalidation does seem to have improved since last time I tested it. It only takes up to 5-10 seconds now, but still this is an eternity to an impatient user. Also since you imply you work for HN, I'll give you my little secret: If you randomly capitalize the letters in the HN username it invalidates the cache. Otherwise scraping the profile would indeed take as long as the API approach. I'm taking a risk with you fixing it now. :) I hope that helps clarify and I look forward to your thoughts.