Jquery 1.8.x support

I have downloaded and installed this template on an existing site. After working through several issues I am now running into a major performance issue. The site takes a very long time to load any pages.
In looking over the issue it looks to be a conflict with jQuery. The local copy that the Hot responsive template uses is 1.7.2 while my installation of K2 and other plug-ins are using 1.8.3.

When I try to replace the local copy of jquery.min.js with version 1.8.3 the site will not load. I have also tried to use JQuery Simple and that does not work either.

Usually that means you have some very large images. jquery is not place to look for your problem. Try loading page in Chrome , open debug with right click "Inspect Element", then to to Network tab and refresh page. There you will see time taken for each resource to load.

I looked at that and the problem is that multiple versions of jQuery are loading. 1.8.3 and then the 1.7.2 from your template. It has nothing to do with image sizes.
When I move back to my old template (which uses 1.8.3) the site loads very fast.

Is there a reason why you are stuck at jQueery 1.7.2?

Also the infinite scroll keeps pulling the same articles over and over again. it never loads any new content.

Well remove 1.7.2 jquery reference

That feature is one of the main reasons I bought this template. I cannot believe your answer is "remove it"

Is that really the only thing you can say about an issue with your product?