And yet these are still (apparently) implemented as search queries instead of direct database queries.

There may be some magic they do to better optimize within-user-searching. It's something that they could hide in implementation details so we can't be sure unless they spill the beans but it's feasible - especially with the default search parameters they're using.

I'd still love something a bit more obvious and intuitive but if it's just a UX failure that makes me feel a lot better.