"That, paired with them ripping off other people's designs for this theme, makes me recommend people to stay away from anything associated with this site."
For such accusations it would be good to provide links and sources.
LayerVault issued a DMCA Takedown because of it [1]. They did it because there were some assets that appear to be directly stolen [2] and were subsequently changed after the DMCA takedown.
In the discussion threads, you'll find a lot of discussion about what was legally justifiable and whether something was ripped off or not. I've often found that there's a dichotomy between certain views for those who are more designer versus those that are more developer. Take it for what you will.
As a designer, it's hard for me to appreciate the theme itself, let alone support someone with such a reputation. To me, they appear to lack any ethos characteristic of a designer...but I digress...
In the discussion threads, you'll find a lot of discussion about what was legally justifiable and whether something was ripped off or not. I've often found that there's a dichotomy between certain views for those who are more designer versus those that are more developer. Take it for what you will.
As a designer, it's hard for me to appreciate the theme itself, let alone support someone with such a reputation. To me, they appear to lack any ethos characteristic of a designer...but I digress...
[1] HN Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5331766 [2] DesignerNews Discussion: https://news.layervault.com/stories/1992-layervault-whats-up...
Edited to add the DN discussion link which I seem to have omitted?