Have you considered a Google Blogger site? They aren't quite as customizable as WordPress, but you can put AdSense on your site in like 5-10 minutes, if you're interested. Plus free hosting, even with your own domain name. I've used blogger for years, and I've never had downtime or technical problems.

Might be worth noting that the customer base patio11 is probably most familiar with are people who pay money for a program that lets them print bingo cards. They might be a different demographic than people who know what a gwern is. For a data point, I live in RSS, don't voluntarily follow any newsletters, and have become conditioned to associate the ones I do get from some places I'm registered at as semi-spam. Also if I pay money for something, then it becomes a burdensome Rare and Valuable Possession I Must Now Find a Safe Place For, instead of a neat thing I can go look at, then forget all about, then go look up again after five years based on some vaguely remembered details. So I'll save myself stress if I stick with free stuff.