Buddies?? not working

I am a new user here and must admit something which drew me was being able to keep track of specific people using the buddy option. However, there does not seem to be any way to add buddies to my profile nor is there any documentation on specifically how to do it.

Also, in my attempt to figure out the buddy problem I discovered that your search tool could use an overhaul. I would like to search specific forum topics but I do see how that is possible.

-- Derek Tay, Venerate the Tree Design