BuddyPress.org

hi @dvize,

you making reference to documentation relating to BP 1.5. Many things have changed since 15 versions ! See changelogs here.
But you’re right, searching is a complex thing anyway.

To remove the header search box, you have 2 easy solution.
1) create a child theme and remove the form code who is in header.php
2) use CSS to hide the box

/* hide the header search box */
form#search-form {
	display:none;
	visibility: hidden;
}