It's not that sour, just browse as anonymous. I don't know that it destroys the threads, probably going too far, but I Just don't think it makes sense to have a conversation out of chronological order. I'll sample a couple selected best nodes.

• A wholly inadequate reply to an Anonymous Monk You are first to reply, listed first when I'm logged in, otherwise not.
• Interview Counterattack: "Show me a project-plan" You are first to reply with affirmative, positive, and optimist sentiment; otherwise, while not logged in the first reply is mild disagreement. This is actually pretty good example to find after checking less than 5 or so.

What do MOST logged in users do? How do you yourself order replies? If you prefer to read them in chronological order, and you being a discerning and rational person obviously prefer the best, then it would be a courtesy to extend that to visitors. Typically up-votes follow chronologically, so in a lot of cases it makes no difference. It's probably the most annoying for people very familiar with Perlmonks and don't log in because it's not convenient or quit logging in altogether.

Thanks. Your post is about 20x better than the OP since it contains evidence and logic and a name.

The headline above the replies is “Replies are listed “Best First’” so it’s perhaps less confusing than the OP wants us to think. It is a fairly common default on many sites and it’s more clearly labeled here than on some.

That said, I think there should be an option to browse chronologically at the top. That’s how I have my settings, as you suggest. :P But I usually read entire threads if it’s a topic I care about. Folks just passing by looking for specific answers don’t. I don’t know for the casual, non-monk reader if having the best on top is objectively better or not. I can see arguments for both so affording both with ease seems best to me.

That said, I don’t demand free work from others—I still haven’t broken in my commit bit—so my opinion is just a data point for Gods.

The real "problem" is far more fundamental and wouldn't be changed by chronological order.

It's the old ideological war between linear° and threaded discussion boards.

And as usual people want the cake and eat it too.

(Threaded discussions with linear order? WTF )

Please note that SO is limiting to 3 "levels" depth. (Question/Answer/Comment- And I am always confused by that structure)

IMHO the only possible answer is a "flexible" adjustment to the needs of the current reader.

I.e. DHTML to optionally show the sub-tree overview like in RAT, reordering the replies, folding and navigating them.

There is for sure no right order for threads, if one reply provokes a large subtree, then the next direct reply is buried behind, even if it's the "second best" reply.

Folding is the only alternative which comes to mind.

BTW: I'm still waiting for an example where another answer was implicitly referenced without linking or naming the author.

I remember rare instances of people talking about "the former reply".

But most replies here are from regulars, which don't do this.

So it's not happening "often"

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery FootballPerl is like chess, only without the dice}

°) compare phpbb if you don't know what linear boards are, or look at WP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversation_threading

> I still haven’t broken in my commit bit

In case you are interested ... ;-P

The replies are generated in list replies

    
my $orderby= $VARS->{notesortorder}
       ||  $settings->{orderby}
       ||  "createtime";
[download]

The sort order is labeled in shownote

  24: my $orderby= $VARS->{notesortorder}
  25:    ||  $settings->{orderby}
  26:    ||  "createtime";
  27: 
  28: my %orderby_labels = (
  29:     'createtime'      => 'Oldest First',
  30:     'createtime desc' => 'Newest First',
  31:     'reputation desc' => 'Best First'
  32: );
  33: 
  34: my $replies_info;
  35: if ( $orderby_labels{$orderby} ) {
  36:     my $fmt_replies_info = htmlcode( 'formatRepliesInfo','', $NO
+DE );
  37:     if ( $fmt_replies_info =~ /^[^0]/ ) { # something other than
+ zero
  38:         $replies_info = qq(<span class="note-ordering">Replies a
+re listed '$orderby_labels{$orderby}'.</span>);
  39:     }
  40: }
  41:
[download]

List replies is called later.

47:       htmlcode('list replies')
[download]

So I think you can change line 38 to show a select box changing $VARS->{notesortorder} and performing a reload.

Cheers Rolf
_{(addicted to the Perl Programming Language :)
Wikisyntax for the Monastery FootballPerl is like chess, only without the dice}