I don't think it would stop you from posting on HN or Reddit.
I think this is designed to accelerate the sharing of your links through social media. The advantage of that is that a personal referral has more impact than a blind post on HN. Of course, The devil is in the details. How it's executed will make all the difference.
Daimyoyo, I made a change on the blog to reflect your concern, which I fully understand. I left the form up for people who want to keep their question private (for example, we're thinking of firing our head of sales.) but anybody that is fine with a public forum can just post a comment.
We did that because we thought people may not want their request public. We also thought we may want to ask a few follow up questions to improve the post.
You're point is well taken though. I can change that and make the email optional. I could also set it up so people can ask questions in the comments.
I really appreciate the feedback. I'll make the change shortly.