Yeah, that's just shitty planning. They opened main net before launching the website and ANN. I get that they believe they had a "catch 22" situation, but the whole ordeal was just made possible by the team's incompetence and it's obvious to see the motives of the shills defending this incompetence.
IMHO, it's pretty obvious it wasn't incompetence but rather an intended play by the team/project.
Perhaps to get a very dedicated community quickly (we-are-the-chosen-ones feeling). This def succeeded.
Or to be able to mine it by themselves without competition unofficially.