The latter. The admin takes a completely hands-off approach to running the server (I'm not even sure if he plays on it). So the condition of the spawn is purely because many people over the years thought it would be funny to make it as inhospitable as possible.
I guess it's an acquired taste, but there's something fun about trying to survive in such a hostile world. How many game servers have 200+ page comics written about them? http://minecraft2b2t.thecomicseries.com/
We should carve out a small section of land, right at the spawn. One chunk, say. Fill it with useful things like farms, farm animals, resources. Then, guard it 24/7 by using a rotating staff system. See how long we can keep it defended!
It would take a single smart person to undo hours of work. Even if you guard it really well, there's only so much you can do in minecraft.
Someone can approach you from 200m high building a 1m-wide bridge from outside your radar and just drop lava (or active TNT) on you. In minecraft, you need a pretty high defender:griefer ratio to keep things intact.
I guess it's an acquired taste, but there's something fun about trying to survive in such a hostile world. How many game servers have 200+ page comics written about them? http://minecraft2b2t.thecomicseries.com/