It was never designed as a bikepacking bike. It’s a ‘progressive trail 29er’ according to the head badge, designed for ragging around the woods on wee rides.
However, it has found favour among bikepackers, because some of us clearly find it good over long distances. I’ve ridden several multi-day rides on both the steel and the Ti, and the bike isn’t the limiting factor by a long shot. I’ve ridden a fair few bikes, my previous bikepacking ride was a Salsa El Mariachi, but I personally think the Stooge is better over distance.
I think that everyone is entitled to an opinion on the bike, how it rides and so on, but there are two parts of the review that are factually incorrect. It wasn’t designed for bikepacking (see above), and the frame triangle is more than big enough for a frame bag. I use an XL Wildcat Ocelot which fits perfectly. My El Mariachi had a frame bag that fits inside the Stooge main triangle with about three inches gap at the front, and half an inch all the way along the top tube.