@amatczak Thanks very much for looking into it and the explanation.

This forum has only one location so there is no meaning in limiting its search to a specific place on Earth.

@barisu Ah! Right ... thanks! I honestly wasn't aware of that option. One can easily overlook it. Maybe one day, they move that option to the above. Anyway, thanks again.

And what does this have to do with the forums? You posted in "Forum feedback", there is no news on the forum's homepage. What version of Opera, and on what type of system?

You can't create forums - neither can I, and I'm a moderator. Post your request here and the sysadmin may create it. Note that "Local forums" is for non-English forums - if that'a not what you want then suggest a more appropriate placement.

@coffeelover Setting aside all the "snarki-ness" and BB71's excellent decompiling of this thread...the fact remains that often NAVIGATION w/in Opera can be challenging. Anchoring the sidebar and exploring links in separate tabs is a basic good practice not mentioned often enough. Opera works just fine, users not taking a few moments to review (customize) default settings - in ANY browser are apt to "lose" things.

This forum doesn't have a VPN.

You mean where it says "1 posts, 8 views" next to the Reply button? That's in every thread - once after the topic starter and once after all the replies (or at the bottom of each page if you've set a fixed page length).

Thanks to all for your detailed comments and explanations. I'll learn to deal with the situation.