I don't think personal web sites are any harder to find. I think that your expectations have changed since the 1990s. Back then, everything was new, and practically everything on the web was targeted to a narrow set of people. Now there's just more stuff, and you get FOMO looking at any particular one. Sites that seemed "entertainingly random" a quarter-century ago are now merely other people's drivel.
I don't think web rings are going to bring back the period you want. But I think there's way more content than you can possibly consume that is at least as good. HN will link you to dozens of new blogs every day.
They'll be drivel, but they were always drivel. Web rings won't change the fact that you have a lower tolerance for the drivel than you used to.