It think a feature like this is alright as long as it's optional.

What really troubles me is that little 'number of users' bar. I think it's lame to care so much about metrics. Maybe you could make that optional too? As in, it doesn't show by default for newfags, but once you get really into Heyuri and want to start tracking things, you can access it?

(Pic unrelated, I'm just really hungry for a ham sandwich in particular)