Actually, Abram, there is something VERY wonky about the Advanced filter and sorting of forum hits.
TLDR: If you only use the simple find, your search results will be governed by a hidden HT sort order not obvious to the user, either the HT default order or the last user-chosen sort order, even from a previous HT visit. If you do use filtering search terms as a keyword, e.g. “order:oldest …,” these will be overriden by your previous remembered HT search order parameter, as soon as you get out of Simple Search by going to the hamburger menu choices or the Advanced Filters. Would be nice to have an obvious user discoverable interface and not hidden functionality that doesn’t help the user.
I previously stated the following:
This is true for me (and I presume others) when you first launch the simple search. Here’s what I see, the important part being IF I DON"T PUT IN ANY SEARCH KEYWORDS:
or if I click on the hamburger menu in the search box:
There is no choice of sorting order.
If I go to the Advanced Filter, here’s what I see:
Still no choice of sort order.
If I go back to the simple filter and use the filtering term “order:oldest,” which is official Discourse search terminology (see Searching for content effectively - Documentation / Using Discourse - Discourse Meta), then I get the follownig results, sorted in ascending chronological order, as requested.
As soon as I click on the hamburger menu in the search box, though, some local site programming takes over. The SEARCH sorting box appears for the very first time. You only see sorting options under the hamburger menu view or Advanced Filters when you’ve entered search terms in the search box. Whatever last search term was used is the default sorting order used. Since in fooling around LATEST was the last sort order I used, that overrides my search term filter “order:oldest.” There is no way, once the on-site search sorting has been invoked, to sort from oldest to newest. The HT site screws Discourse functionality.
In the next screen below, MOST LIKED was my sort order choice from a previous HT session. So, that remembered site sorting order choice (which doesn’t show until I invoke the hamburger menu or Advanced Filter), suddenly upsets the applecart of my desired “order:oldest” sort.
So, whatever the HT default sort order is or whatever you last managed to invoke as an official HT sort order, that is remembered and always applied to future searches. If I sorted on “Most Liked,” close my browser, and come back to HT some time later, all my searches will be sorted by Most Liked but there is no indication in the Simple Search that this is being done. If you click on the Hamburgerr menu or to Advanced Filters after that in the search box, you’ll see that this is so.
Simple Search in Chrome with hidden sort by Most Liked:
Simple Search in Chrome With Sorting Order Revealed by Clicking on Hamburger Menu
Advanced Search in Chrome With Sorting Order Revealed in Advanced Filter
