It seems like everyone is domain crazed nowadays. If they don't want their own, they want to be hosted by one. People are straying away from hosts like geocities and tripod. Why? I can understand it for people with large sites that need more space. But for small, especially first sites, there's nothing wrong with servers like geocities.Domains will NOT make you more popular, necessarily. If your site stinks, people may visit once but the won't come back just because you have a neat URL. Likewise, an excellent site on a server like tripod can be very popular. Look at the Amazoness Quartet. They're hosted by tripod, and their site is incredibly well-known. It doesn't take a domain, or being hosted by one, to be a good site or a popular one. And if you don't know much html, it's alot easier to start on a big server than a domain where the webmaster isn't always free to help you out. If it's your domain, there's no one there to help you. So before you get a domain, you should be experienced with web design and html.
I'm perfectly happy on geocities. I've considered switching to a server that would give me a shorter URL, and even signed up for a couple, but backed out at the last minute. I don't know html very well, I know squat about web design, and I'm unfamiliar with FTP. I like how easy it is to maintain and add to my page on geocities without having to know much about the internet. I don't intend to change servers until I learn more about html, and then I may still stay on geocities.
It also annoys me that some people look down on free servers. They may not be as advanced or trendy as getting hosted or having a domain, but a site's server doesn't determine the quality of the site. I know many people are upset with geocities new policy, but they have revised it and it doesn't affect me. Servers like tripod have no such policy. The only really viable complaint I can see is the pop-ups. I agree they are annoying, but again, a site can be excellent despite them.
To sum it up? I think it's silly to get a domain just to have a cool site, and to get hosted by a domain when you know nothing about FTP, html, etc. There isn't anything wrong with free servers, and they're great for beginners.
And no, geocities didn't pay me to write this.