Pinboard? Really? Are they confusing it with something else? Pinboard, in my eyes, is utilitarian and plain, but not ugly and unusable.
The person writing the article (in common with most people) equates "looking good" with "working well" because they're unable to understand there may be a difference between those two things.
Also, the blandness of most current site designs makes the few who do anything remotely different stand out.