I'm all for a simple light weight plugin that does just this.
It would be really awesome if we would be able to connect multiple XF installs. Or a XF install with Wordpress, Magento, MediaWiki, etc. Members would be able to use multiple sites and scripts with the same login or while they keep being logged in. XF 2.1 has a REST API. Please extend this to...
xenforo.com
I had my share of issues with Xpress/Xlink. I only wanted it for SSO and none of the other bells and whistles. Even when I could get it working by disabling some server side php options, and all xpress options other than SSO, my test site seemed sluggish. A simple SSO add-on would be welcomed.
I don't understand why you've been struggling with this plugin, which does not bring such a necessary function. Would have installed XenWord and there wouldn't be such problems. It doesn't interfere with modifying WP and XF at all, it doesn't cause any conflicts. I will not advise on a theme of a bridge to apply XPress, it is better to use XenPortal in its place, there will be no problems and with save nerves. And so, for today it is better, XenWord the decision on a bridge theme, I have not seen. And I doubt that soon we will see.
If developers can realize the possibility of linking the forum with other resources, fame and benefit will be for them. However, what you said about XPress, I agree. I tested XPress. It imposes its own style; it forces other styles to be adapted if we want the normal display of comments. Cannot work with subdomains. It was enough for me not to work with him. If this suits someone, then go ahead.
It amazes me that everyone abruptly forgot about XenWord, as it is not strange, it performs its function perfectly. Not without problems at some points, but it is fixed without problems. I have been using it for 4 months on my site, and SEO promotion does not suffer at all. True in the robot.txt it will not be superfluous to exclude some sections of the plugin itself. One minus, it does not recognize WP entries, because bots ignore them at the forum level, but the site separately indexes. In case of problems with XenWord itself, it will not do any harm to the BD WP and XF. They remain autonomous from each other, even if XenWord does not work. It is a pity that the author sharply changed his opinion about support, but the latest version 2019.05.03-2.03 fulfills his perfectly. However, it all depends on the tasks, do not exclude this.
As many will say - They do not argue about tastes. Everyone should understand whether they need a bridge between different CMS or not. In reality, IPS + IPB performs this function well, but is it worth the attention? Everyone's choice. I am personally confident in my choice and I am happy with the result, if there are errors, I correct them.
I'm not gonna advise anybody. Everything rests on the task at hand. I relied on the task to have general registration, general comments, synchronization of entries with the forum, redirecting the link to the profile of the forum. Even facebook, google+, twitter registration works without any problems (though the buttons on them are better to do it yourself). Installation of any style on WP and XF for any taste and complexity. Doesn't affect your work. I am happy about it and everything works, the indexing of bots between the site and the forum, does not critically affect SEO. I was pleased with XenWord in this question. So, decide for yourself whether you need a bridge between the site and the forum of different CMS. It will be problematic to put such a bridge on the deployed resource, take it into account at once because of the alignment of users' id in the database. You don't need to do this with a new installation. Of course, who is seriously concerned about the work of SEO and depends heavily on it, the implementation of a third-party bridge between the CMS is not recommended. You should immediately understand what to be ready for and how to solve these issues.
I'm sorry about my bad English.
