Ok I'm stupid: How to search

Yeah, I'm an idiot. I can't figure out these new forums.  After going through the ugly process below, I'd like to see:

- On the initial page, a way to specify that I only want to search the forum I'm already in.

- On the initial page of the forum a Help button for search help. Somewhere.

- Please don't make me go through the pain of refinding my chosen forum in the Where drop-down list.

- Consistent use of defined terms. The search result shows me "Items". I think those are also called "Discussions".

For those who want to see how stupid I really am, here's a play by play so far....

Got myself to the Illustrator forum, no problem. I don't see my problem listed on the first page here. Hmmm, how do I search? Best to read the instructions. Is there a "Newbies Search Help" button somewhere?  Anywhere? Nope. Well, guess I'll forge ahead. Here's a "Search Forums" blank. I'll type "feather".  Let's see, 198 results. Cool. Here's a possibility:  "directional feather".  I'll read that... no wait. It's in the InDesign forum!  I started out in the Illustrator forum, why am I seeing InDesign answers?

Well, the little sidebar says "You can choose to search all content or filter it by content type". (Hmm, I didn't see a filter when I first typed in my search criteria. Would have been handy there.)  Guess on this page now I do have a "sort by" filter. Relevance, Rating, Subject, Date.  No mention of sort by Forum. Well, there's a More Options link under the Search bar now, I'll try that. (Wonder why that wasn't available when I first started searching.)    It wants to know What. Well, I want to search the Illustrator Forum. Should I take off the checkbox for Discussions and People?  No... I think I want to search Discussions. Just in the Illustrator forum, but hopefully it will figure that out. OK, let's turn off the other two checkboxes.  Next question:  When.  I don't care. All is fine. Now it wants to know WHERE?  Hey, I STARTED OUT IN THE ILLUSTRATOR FORUM. Ok Ok, I'll choose it again in the list.  Adobe Illustrator. Wow there are a lot of entries under "A". Indented entries, too. No, it must be under "I". I'll just keep scrolling down... wow, this is taking forever. Let's grab the scroll bar... Whoops, I went past. Illustrator, there we are.  Next question. Who? I don't care.

OK, where's the button I press to go ahead with my search?  Hmmm. Must be next to the "search forums blank at the top again--- oh no, don't touch that!  I think I almost searched for the phrase "search forums".  OK, there's a Search button next to the "Search for" blank, which still contains the word "feather".   Whew.  28 results. I think they're all for Illustrator.

I wonder if there is a way to open one of the items (I think they're called Discussions although it doesn't call them that here) without losing this "collection."  Gosh, I wish there was a Help button. But I do see a "Search Tips" link. Dare I?  Well it's mostly about the particulars of searching for certain words.  No real instructions for us newbies. I'll read the three easiest steps:  Yep. Looks like choosing my forum from the "where" dropdown list is the only way to tell it that I do indeed want my search to be enacted only within the forum I was originally in...

OK, let's select this "discussion". Hmm, I'm in the middle of the discussion; this doesn't make sense yet. I think I need to "go to original post".  Nope, this isn't what I need. Let's go back to the collection of 28 results.  Back Arrow. And of course it's walking me back through all the replies I clicked on. Back. Back. Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait. OK, I'm back at my list of 28 results.

...ya know, I'm tired. I think I'll search later. I have to get back to work.