Some people that complain about Theo have longstanding direct experience working with him. But then, some people that have longstanding and direct experience working with Theo think the world of him. He's a complicated man and nobody understands him 'cept his codebase (theo!).
I think you're at least as capable as I am of determining when someone is speaking about an injury suffered first hand vs second/third/fourth hand retellings, and into which category most such comments on slashdot/reddit/HN fall.