Oh yeah, I wasn't a fan of the sire bond either! It just felt really random to introduce that after Damon's blood had already turned Caroline and Vicky, yet of course with Elena she would become "sired to him". Damon's blood turning Caroline was never even brought up as in any way relevant, there was never any importance attached to him being her "Sire", so it just seemed a little too convenient to want to introduce that lore as late as the fourth season. Yeah there was the claim that it was very rare, but that still didn't really justify it IMO when it was against everything we had been shown of the siring process being unimportant before.

And I did wonder if Elena's feelings for Stefan would come back after Alaric changed her feelings for Damon, the fact that it never even came up is what makes me think that Delena and Stelena is being dictated more by fan popularity, because surely it would make sense for Elena's feelings for Stefan to be an issue if everything about her memories of Damon had been changed?