I don't know if this was commented before or not, but it seems that the forums either dicourage people from using them or are bent on having as many steps as possible for things that should be simple. Sure, posting is straightforward and all that, but why returning from a post requires you to return to the board index, then navigate your way back to where you were before? If there's any link to go back, it's either not visible or in a place that doesn't make sense in comparison to other forums with similar layout and structure.

Why are the forums like that? Shouldn't easy of navigation be a priority, so people who need to look for information can navigate from and to it easier and not lose their time with intermediate steps?

Did you check the bottom left of your screen? All the links are there in the black bar

I didn't even notice the bottom bar existed until 30 minutes after creating this thread though. Maybe the 'footer' thing would be better noticed if it was a header instead?

Also, the navigational thing in there will just go back one level and not go back to where you were before. Say I am in a topic that is in page 3 of a section and select to go back using the footer. As soon as I do that, it will return to page 1 of the parent section in question, which means I'll have to manually go back to page 3 to continue what I was doing.

How about using the history function of your browser? That should just work in two clicks.