I don't like that the very first thing you see when you click on download is "purchase for $40" and then they list the benefits of doing so, which basically boil down to:

1- custom gnome themes 2- Professional-grade creative suite of apps 3- Advanced productivity software

Number 1 is a joke. Number 2 & 3 I think are basically scams. What apps? They don't list them at all. If they are proprietary then how can you support these apps with this pricing model, if they are not, then are they just downloadable by anyone on almost any distro for free?

The entire thing smells bad. I vote to stay far away.

if you have a seedbox, the easy way to get a good ratio is just to follow whatever release group is popular on the site, and just literally start seeding every single thing they release. Often times on PHD you'll get a free or half download if it's an internal group, and if it's a popular movie or show it'll get loads of downloads. I did this exact thing, and after a little while I had basically infinite ratio and have been using the site for years without even worrying about ratio.

I honestly haven't noticed this. I can almost always find what I'm looking for with a general ddg search. Interesting.