the non intuitive nature of some of the UI features.

Instructional copy is written, but not implemented.

Lack of help - again written, but not implemented.

Lack of privacy settings.

Inability to search.

Hmm... None of these, with the possible exception of no privacy (as in, the defaults provide no privacy), sound like they would stop you from putting it out there to see how it does and then improving as you go (outsourced, etc).

I have fallen into the trap of "more development" will solve this before. If you're selling a fire hose to someone on fire, they won't be too concerned with its color. Are you not releasing because there is no fire? Is that possibly why the developer did not see dollar signs and left? I ask you this not to be glib, but because I was on the other side of a similar, but much more amicable situation.

Did you see the application working (partially) or did the developer say that there's nothing to see yet (because the application isn't finished)?

I've seen it, and have it running on my server in alpha.