That's true, but if more people did this, threads would be unbearable to read so I think it's better that we agree not to. Highly voted posts will appear closer to the top, so upvotes are not entirely wasted.
Interesting view... Difference is that a stock photo is just one part of a bigger picture (as you said). However, a theme is everything that the users sees, not just a part.
I'm using Pastel and it seems perfect for the project.
Actually with many designs (and this really print) the photo could be the main center of attention. In fact a custom photo should communicate the concept of the design, not just illustrate it. So just think of the difference between say a cover photo on a magazine (like an Entertainment Weekly issue with a real Hollywood Star) vs. the generic stock photo. So the photo should be everything -- and the same with the interface and art direction of a website.
No, I'm perfectly fine with Twitter Bootstrap and similar because its highly customizable and after a few hours coding, it won't even be recognizable.
I'm using an Admin template for a web app and its pretty unique.
I just don't want to be "mocked" because I didn't take the time and money to make a more unique interface. Like North Korea was mocked because the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea's site (http://korea-dpr.com) cost $15 because they bought a template of Themeforest.
I know it shouldn't be a really big problem, but I'm second guessing every decision I've made because I'm really nervous about this one. (I've switched between PHP and Python and Linode and Heroku about 15 times now).
Being mocked is a badge of honor. It means you have the hustle to ship and get things out in front of people. You should worry a little bit if you're not being mocked. Maybe you're that good, but, really, for the most part, the people who mock new businesses the most tend to be too dumb to tell the difference. So, not being mocked probably means you're wasting time being too vain to ship.
Forget the web design stuff. Use Themeforest, or the Boostrap defaults, and spend your time getting your product to do things people will pay money for.
Like johnpattiyson, I can't scroll the TOS.