The prime motivator is, of course, profit. I am certain that I would not do this without some expectation of wages for my labor. Although I have a modicum of ego and a desire to do my bit to foster an enlightened and rational world (my version, naturally), it is, in the end, profit that is the spark. The Wealth of Nations, Adam Smith (See? Even as I philosophize, I seek a commission.)
Profit alone, however, would not suffice. As do my loftier interests flag without the lure of profit, so does my profit motive wither without some higher reason to continue. Is it, as the wag said of the evangelist, "Doing well by doing good"? [Who said that? Email me if you know and I will give proper attribution.]
Transcending, though not, certainly, overwhelming these motives is an almost mystical urge to be absorbed by the Web; to become a part of it, as the coral egg accretes to the reef. It is no longer the geeky part of me that is drawn to the Web. I no longer think of it as being "cool" or "neat". I see it now as a new form of life; a collective organism which beckons me to attach myself to it, as the reef beckons the egg, creating a whole greater than its parts.
Sorry. Overwriting is one of my many vices. I was taught the way of writing by my English Master at Virginia Episcopal School. Mr. Banks, I am sure, experienced pain when exposed to my purple tendency towards extravagant exposition. I know this because he made me share that pain. He did his best, but I am still flawed.
I dedicate this Web Presence to Joseph Banks, a man who loved and taught with passion The Language.
[JoJo, about that last sentence: I think it flows better without the commas, don't you? The commas would impede the force of the statement, remove the passion, separate and isolate the concepts when they should be joined. Dontcha think?]