I was a small fish as well for many years, 5 as a freelancer and 5 as a small business owner. We all have to take those risks initially when getting started, "I can build you a site that looks like this for this much money!" But we concede those risks when we do so.

In all of my years I have only taken 2 sites down for non-payment. That was the extent of it though, no payment, no site. I personally would never feel comfortable using a clients domain as my own platform to state my side of the story, it's just not appropriate in my opinion.

I want to support fellow designer and developers but in this case I just can't blindly do so without hearing both sides on this or a bit more detail from the developer. The developer has posted little more than invoices were unpaid and he's shutting down the studio like P-Diddy. For all we know through his own initiative he exceeded the agreed scope of work and wants to be paid for it.

Maybe more information can be surfaced and we can rally behind this guy. Until then I've got to stay neutral and look at things objectively.