I looking for documentation for troubleshooting a problem with K2 social share icons. I want to remove them from certain article item however the tools provided to hide the buttons doesn't work, go figure. I guess it to much to ask to make sure something works properly before you release it to the public, ie: the primary problem with open source solutions, sloppy second rate developers.

Well,
First of all, if you have an issue on k2 you should give more info to let users help you and post on the right forum.

My suggestion, before say words like "k2 doesnt works properly" you should look yourself and be sure that you have everything working good on your site, or everything configured how it should be.
K2 works like a charm, and there is a stable version which works very well.
OpenSource is what it is, and give thanks for such a good products are FREE.
If for some reason you dont like OpenSource just get to buy a comercial solution.