And then they may take on some special project.
Some personal sites provide collections of annotated links to other sites.
That's well and good, of course. But there are other things, as well. Look for sites located on servers other than GeoCities. Rather than grabbing the first site you come upon, look for a site that really engages a self-sponsored project, a site that you could comment on at some length, a site you might seek to emulate. Extra points for selecting a site that's rich and complex.