@donnacha | WordSkill - I appreciate this feedback. It proves something that many in our team have realized and I'm finally getting it -- that we (meaning me) have not done a good job of engaging our customers and letting them know what's going on with our company.

Call it whatever you want, but I know and accept responsibility for having not done a good job of engaging our customers. I've let our theme releases do that. We've had our share of struggles, but we're fully committed to getting back out there and speaking with people.

Benjamin mentioned this with our first Live Event, where we're hoping to meet our customers face-to-face and provide training and value ... http://ithemes.com/ithemes-wordpress-theme-bootcamp-jan-29-30-in-dallas/

I'm super excited about this and our upcoming training at WebDesign.com as well as we've been hard at work building the training people have consistently asked for the last 2 years.

But I take for granted that our team knows what's going on, and the outside world does not.

Admittedly, I also have preferred a more low key persona online. I have not participated in some of the discussions (or fights), preferring to keep my opinions to myself and our team.

But I still believe our work should speak for itself. And if you're not convinced after the release of Builder of that work and innovation and commitment, then I'm going to be super surprised but also humbly respect your opinion.

Consistently, we've tweaked older themes and made them better -- giving our customers MUCH more than they originally bought. Essence was our first theme ... but it's been SIGNIFICANTLY improved since it was released in Jan. 2008 (featured images, menu builder, etc did not exist when we released).

All that to say ... I invite you to email me with any questions. I particularly appreciate (and prefer) constructive feedback like this ... that flavor inspires me to get better, do better!