maybe the idea is that round keys will have less typos than rectangular keys that are all touching each other?

Did you try these searches while logged in or anonymously? Lemmy (and probably other platforms) don’t allow searches for remote objects unless you’re logged in, this prevents abuse of server resources. The fact that you’re getting replies and you can see them and reply to them means it’s probably all working fine.

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/issues/4406

Many years ago I ran my own Gogs and it was pretty good, would recommend

work in progress

https://github.com/LemmyNet/lemmy/pull/3897

This is really great, it’s basically the same effect as what OP is doing when browsing c/All on a large instance, except you can do it on a small instance and without using an insane amount of system resources on your server

for 2. maybe just say bring your own games? BYOG