Change the default post sort order in threads.
When viewing a question thread in the Community you will see at the top the first post which is the starting question.
Underneath that there may optionally be a reply that has been deemed by an automatic ranking tool to be the "Top-ranking reply". If there is one it will appear directly underneath the original question as well as also be in the general list of replies.
Beneath that is a horizontal line, and just underneath that line and at the far right will be "sort by:" followed by a label. This defines the order in which replies to the original question, which are below the horizontal line, are sorted. This can be:
Rank - Ordered by relevance as deemed by the automatic ranking tool. Most relevant at the top.
Oldest - The oldest reply at the top; the "natural" order.
Newest - The most recent reply at the top.
Upvotes - Sorted by the number of upvotes a reply has received.
Replies can build on previous ones and may refer to information already presented. They can be conversation-like. It therefore would make make sense to expect these to be presented in oldest, historical order. However, the current default thread sort order for the forums is "rank". This can be confusing since the posts are not in historical order and it is difficult to follow the flow of the conversation and reasoning. You can change the sort order by selecting a different sort option in the location I described earlier, but this will only apply for this particular instance of this one thread. If you wish to change the sorting preference so it applies to all threads that you view, this is how you do it:
1) Click on your avatar image at the top right of any page and select Preferences.
2) In the Profile page scroll down until you see:
Other Preferences
Default thread sort
3) Select Oldest.
4) Scroll down to the bottom left and click Submit.
