ive spent a bit of time at t-nation and have read a bit of waterburys programs. i would agree that they seem to be a tweak/variation of hst but im ok with that. having said that, im not making any comment on who founded what and giving credit where credit is due issues. i dont know enough of waterburys history, claims etc.
what i would disaree with is recommending people "stay away from t-nation overall".
info is info. t-nat is full of good articles, programs, diets etc. its got plenty of crap, advertisments, haters etc. as well. the idea being that you use all sources available to you to build a program that works for you and your goals. there is no one size fits all program not even hst. some lifters achieve more on other programs or tweaking of existing ones (a la waterbury). how do you find that out. read, read, read. try a program for a while, evaluate and continue or change. t-nat is a great place for that kind of info you just have to have a head on your shoulders and a plan in mind.
btw i found this site thru a t-nation recommendation.