[huhtenberg]

I can see how it may work when someone needs something from Dan. However if I am contacting him for his own benefit (something as mundane as reporting a typo on his website) I am most certainly won't jump through these hoops.

This is not too different from those obnoxious anti-spam services that require you to click on a link and solve a captcha before delivering your email to the recipient. That's just a No, because you make me do extra work for your own convenience even though I am already ultimately doing you a favor by replying to your email.

In other words, this form works as a mechanism to discourage emails from people who don't need anything from the recipient.