There's a certain no-BS authenticity about sites which choose this aesthetic, that I and many others appreciate.

But you raise a good point, that the look can also make people think they're seeing an old site, which lacks current utility and fresh updates.

So a suggestion to the creator (and others choosing this spartan sensibility): balance the plainness with some other prominent indicators of freshness.

This might include "last updated" dates, including the year, in prominent places. And, even where info is not changed for years – because it remains valid – add other indicators that it's still current. (This might be a "Reviewed" or "Valid through" date that's never more than a few months old.)

As far as I could tell this site was last updated on 2007 but most of the information on that site is timeless.

I've been on LINFO before and wondered the same thing. But actually, it appears to have last been updated in 2007 (see http://www.linfo.org/additions.html). No matter, the site was still quite useful.

I was not sure if this was from 2013 either, since the date at the bottom of the page shows 2007.

There's a guide for optimizing dial up performance. It seems a tad dated.