That doesn't sound like "Hacker News" at all. That sounds like "Startup News". Why are people building websites the only ones you find helpful? Why are academic subjects bad?
I agree that there are more than a few links that don't interest me, but that doesn't mean I throw up my arms and say, "Well, that's it! This site has jumped the shark!"
a community made exclusively of people actually building websites
Do you actually believe that "Startups" and "Hackers" ONLY build websites?
Assuming that you yourself "actually build websites", this seems like a good project to take on. The HN code is open source, it would be neat to see someone make an adaption of HN that fits the spirit of what they believe the site should be about.
I'd be very curious to see what the community and activity level around such a site would look like.
I think you're just at the wrong site. A community made exclusively of people building websites would exclude a lot of smart and interesting people. That's only a small subset of hackers, even in the narrow sense of the word.
In the end, what it comes down to is that you want something (which I also want, except for limiting new members) which is personalized. I couldn't agree more. HN is too general. There needs to be a way to customize, and only a client-side script won't do.
* more news about Startups, less news about things tangentially related to startups
* less churn on the homepage
* a community made exclusively of people actually building websites
* a limit on accepting new members
* less talk about useless academic subjects
* more "review my new project" submissions