Yes, collecting email addresses in a form is pretty hacky, but I haven't had time to set up a fancy mailing list or anything.
If you submit an email address, it will be used at most once to send you a single email with an update on Basalt. Your email won't be used for any other purposes.
If you don't like giving out your email address, but you're still interested in hearing about updates on Basalt, you can follow me on Twitter (
https://twitter.com/anishathalye). I usually announce stuff there too.