Posting New Topics VERY unintuitive.

Question

I want to post a simple question. I would think that posting a question would not require me having to search "how to post a question". It's VERY annoying that it's not obvious. When I click on a category there should be an obvious link on every page. Even the FAQ's and Help pages, while they make is sound simple, are misleading since a "Post a New Topic" link does NOT show up on every page. VERY, VERY frustrating. Less experienced users should not be made to feel like simpletons as these forums were initially designed for specifically for them. In this day and age it should not be that difficult to make things more intuitive.

Answer 1

I would think that posting a question would not require me having to search "how to post a question".
I think that's true.
I also think that your larger point about the shortfall of intuitiveness of the navigation of AD must be at least partly true. Arguably, evidence to that is in the fact that this Feedback forum is inundated with people posting technical questions.
On the other hand, there is a very clear notice at the top of this forum explicitly requesting that technical issues not be posted here. Links to the main page and instructions about how to go about choosing the appropriate forum in which to post technical questions also appear at the top of this forum. These admonitions and instructions are repeatedly overlooked and/or ignored, however, and this leads me to believe that even if explicit instructions about how to locate an appropriate forum in which to ask a question were added to the top of the main page at Apple Discussions, they would also be overlooked or ignored by at least some people.
One might argue (and they have) that in addition to the suggestion that "+If you need help using Discussions, check out the Help & Terms of Use link in the sidebar to the right+," these or similar instructions should be added to the top of the main page, at minimum, and at the top of the list of forums on the category pages as well, to assure that people who are inexperienced in using this kind of site will be steered in the right direction. Others (including Apple) might disagree, pointing out that the vast majority of users who have ended up on the main page of Apple Discussions know what discussion boards are, have navigated to Apple's Discussions purposefully, and can intuit that the lists of hardware and software items on the main page +might at least be a starting point+ in their search for an appropriate place to begin looking for the place to post their questions.
When I click on a category there should be an obvious link on every page.
Of course, there are obvious links on category pages, but these links are to individual forums. It's rather like going to a restaurant: When we are seated at a restaurant, we are handed menus. In this sense, the Apple Discussions main page can be likened to a restaurant menu. In a restaurant menu, items are divided into various groups; the better the restaurant, the greater the number of categories of food items that are listed on the menu. For example, my favorite restaurant here in New York is an Italian place on Thompson Street with a fair sized menu, divided into categories, including +Antipasti E Salumi+, Primi, Secondi and +Piatti Del Giorno+; there is also a separate menu containing the categories, Formaggi, Dolci, +Caffe E Te+, and another containing +Vino Dolce Al Biccchiere/Bottiglie+, +Vino Liquoroso+, +Grappa e Acquavite e Brandy+, Amaro, and Sambuca. For the purpose of our analogy, let's just focus on the dinner menu:
At the top of the list of categories on the dinner menu is +Antipasti E Salumi+, under which are listed Verdura which includes various small vegetable dishes; Carne, which includes various small meat plates; Insalate, under which various salads are listed, and Pesce, under which are listed various small fish plates. A lot to choose from! How do we decide?
Well, we know it's not enough to tell our server that we want an antipasto (just as it's not enough to tell Apple Discussions' server that we have a question about our Apple product). We need to tell them which antipasto we want. There again, it's not enough to tell our server that we'd like a verdura (as it is not enough to click on the Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard link on the main page here); we need to be specific about which verdura we want (just like we need to choose a specific aspect of Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard about which to post a question) in order to be rewarded, which, in a restaurant, means we are able to enjoy our tasty vegetable plate, and, here in Apple Discussions, that we are able to find a 'Post a new topic' link.
In the end, as I have learned to navigate restaurant menus, I, and most users, have been able to intuit how to navigate the menus here at Apple Discussions without ever having read the Help pages. You can, too!
Good luck!