We've got many other keys in package.json that aren't especially relevant to production usage:

 * `devDependencies`
 * `scripts.pretest` & `scripts.test`
 * `yuidoc` (only used by the doc script, I believe?)

I know about the yui-lint from node-modules pattern, but in this case I think it's valuable to take advantage of a jshint 2.1.x+ feature that allows specification inside the package.json (also, the yui-lint rules are only compatible with jshint 1.1.0). A package.json, after all, describes metadata about the package. How the code in that package is expected to be validated seems relevant information, to me.

I am, of course, prepared to extract it if it is really, really bothering you. :)