I actually like to make an empty root commit just as a place to describe what I intend to do with a repo. I'm uncomfortable doing it as a README commit because

I actually like to make an empty root commit just as a place to describe what I intend to do with a repo. I'm uncomfortable doing it as a README commit because that lends it an undue amount of permanence once work begins. Occasionally on repos that are really just for me I even do this as a 'root' commit for work branches, but the way rebase rolls over empty commits makes that kind of problematic in the long run.