Right... what I'm saying is that just because vB5 uses Sphinx, it doesn't make it's search good. You are confusing correlation with causation.
Sphinx is a technology... just like PHP is. All sites built with PHP are not great sites (they can be, but not necessarily). Just like all search engines built with Sphinx are not necessarily great search engines. All I know is that whatever whacky search engine they built for vB5 is more or less useless if you actually want to find something.
And yes, I will say unequivocally that the search engine I built with Sphinx for vB4 is exponentially better than the one vBulletin built for vB5 with Sphinx. The one I made actually works if you want to search for something (for example).
We do know that VB 5.x has many issues and it will take time for them to fix these issues (front-end and back-end) and make the features work all together properly. But in the mean time, we don't need to degrade Vbulletin as a whole product because there is a successful version of it Vb 4.x and most probably the best out there and surpassing XF in many ways.
What XF fans are forgetting is that VB 4.x is still around with all its complete features and it is very stable. For me to say XF is better than VB 4.x would be utterly a lie.
So no matter how they switch words around, we know VB 5.x and XF needs time to improve, and for me, that estimate for both of them would be 1 - 2 years to see how well each product improved.
We do know that XF isn't as popular as VB, and that explains why many still love VB. XF fans wants to make it sound otherwise but they can't deny when a XF staff says this just today.
Quote:
Unfortunately, of those who actually use each add-on, the percentage who take the time to rate/review/like/post is very low.
XF addons doesn't receive many rates and reviews because not many have installed it and use it.
For me i want to see a product with great features and innovation - a product with great features which makes use of interactive design that meets 2014 web design. Unfortunately, neither XF nor VB 5.x met this level yet. So i am still waiting, in the mean time using VB 4.x which is the best for me so far.
The level of features between VB 4.x and XF is pretty obvious, so why deny it is beyond my understanding.