vB5 has killed my forum

[samroza]

The vB5 platform is so clunky and we lose so much functionality and end-user usability, the my users have by and large abandoned my site. The biggest problems are problems that I've tried working with vBulletin on, and have been given no solutions.

Unread post searching is so horribly broken, and I believe as a consequence, Tapatalk integration is also broken in similar ways (my guess is that the behavior of both is tied to the API).

I think we've come to the place-after investing in a vB5 license and paying for vBulletin to "professionally" upgrade our software-where we need to figure out a way to cut back over to vB4.

We stand to lose out on probably $500 worth of various fees and licenses, and over a month of posts (but since user participation has been so low, it doesn't really matter). It seems worth it if my once-loyal userbase returns and becomes active again.

I just need to figure out a way to get an older backup properly restored and vB4 re-installed.

vBulletin: This one's a stinker. It's almost like the different pieces were developed in a vacuum and not tested until paying customers started using it. Quite frankly, I resent the fact that I had you guys do the upgrade and I've essentially had no contact with you when it wasn't initiated by me through your forums. You really ought to offer a safety valve for customers who want to backrev.