Re: Could this explain why
> How hard is it to run one of these?
Not at all. Easier than FTP for example, easier than any but the most basic static webserver too. Basically install ntpd, configure it with 4-7 local time servers (if you can edit a text file, easy peasy ; the hardest part may be to look up 4-7 local time servers, but the NTP pool page has a nice list of these on the setup help page), and of course declare your server to the pool so that it can actually be used by others.
You do need a static adress, or at least one that doesn't change more than once a year, and an always-on server, but that's not really a concern for most Reg readers I would think. The pool website does say that layer is unimportant (even layer 4 servers can join the fun!) but I won't be doing that for mine, for personal preferences.
Optionally you may want to redirect the port 80 traffic (web traffic) to the main website to redirect misled visitors, but I will be having a local page instead (with a link to the main website, but also a photo of the server an fun facts about the raspberry Pi).
Apparently the traffic you can expect is barely above the noise from hole-pokers and webcrawlers that keep hitting on anything net-connected these days.