I like the idea of establishing a persistent presence on the net that you manage yourself, where you plant your flag with a hand-built simple static web page, a

I like the idea of establishing a persistent presence on the net that you manage yourself, where you plant your flag with a hand-built simple static web page, add a few essays, reading lists, pointers to other cool sites, etc, then invite others with like interests to link up. Connecting multiple 'flag' sites like these was one of my favorite ways to discover worthwhile creative content in the early days (as opposed to Web 2.0's automated firehose of spam). That model of web presence also does a nice job of excluding the www's multitude of trash that's otherwise inescapable these days. Playing once more in sandboxes where assholes are not invited does have a certain appeal.