What benefit does that provide compared to regular browser bookmarks? It doesn't seem to address either of the issues I mentioned.

1. it's independent of the browser

2. it works with any browser

3. I can move it to any machine and use it

4. It is not transmitted to the browser vendor

5. Being a text file, it is under my control

6. I can back it up

7. I don't need some database manager to access it

8. I can add notes and anything else to the file

9. It's stupid simple

What happens when the website itself becomes unavailable?

For me, this is the problem that Evernote solves - it saves the entire content of the page, images, text, and clickable links.

The link stops working.