The Open Space of Possibilities
Firstly, the Dead Letter Office. "The Dead Letter Office is a holding space. When you submit your words to The Dead Letter Office database, your letter is added to a collection of Dead Letters of other people from around the world whom you will never meet. In fact, you may read a letter from someone you know, but you may never know it."
The idea of floating bits of fiction -- either anonymously as the Dead Letter Office does, or not -- into the WWW as a means of quiet expression has a certain appeal. You aren't constrained by requirements of size, shape, or genre; you can just try ideas out and see what happens with them. Jeff VanderMeer is putting together the House with 87 Cabinets over at Night Shade Books as an online experiment with an ultimate eye towards publication and his precept isn't as anonymous but it still has that "no boundaries" format to it.
When Souls of the Living was first making the rounds in New York, we would get back responses like "liked it, but we're not doing horror right now" followed by "liked it, but we're not doing thrillers now." Pigeon-holing may be a necessary survival trait for the publishing houses but it certainly clips the wings of the writer when the definitions are narrow and rigid.
This is one of the things which I really like about the Web: it allows tiny fledglings the opportunity to find their wings. You can get lost in the noise, but you can also do anything you like.