I don't know any rails developer who has written a web server, where did you get that idea? Many use mod_rails via nginx or apache:

http://www.modrails.com/

Also, PAAS offerings like Heroku and Engine Yard make deploying sophisticated rails environments far more convenient than their PHP equivalent.

> "sticking code snippets in web pages"

You can do exactly this in ruby with ERB, but many shy away from this approach due to a distaste for the bolognaise pattern.

You should try ruby/rails/sinatra on your next project, it will change your life.