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One of the things that baffles me the most about SO is that I can't sort answers by _newest first_. If I search for something related to javascript for example

One of the things that baffles me the most about SO is that I can't sort answers by _newest first_. If I search for something related to javascript for example, I know there will be a ton of answers for older versions that I am most likely not interested in. However I can only sort by oldest first (related to date). Old answers are definitely useful a lot of times, but the fact that there's not even the option to sort them the other way around tells me that SO somehow, at it's core, considers new answers less important. A strange decision if you ask me, considering software changes so much over time. If anyone has a possible explanation for this I'd love to hear it.

acomjean 5y ago
I always thought the should have a language version. Eg python3, php7. JavaScript es6....
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Tags work to categorize by language (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/python-3.x); https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/python-3.x); by having multiple languages on one site, you'll have a broader audience because there's few developers that only work with one singular language.
apnorton 5y ago
There are three buttons that act as sorting directions at the top of the answers section: "Votes," "Oldest," and "Active." The "Active" option sorts by most recently modified, which is _usually_ what you'd want instead of strictly newest. (i.e. an edit would update the timestamp, making that answer have a more recent activity date) So, I guess the answer to your question of "why can't I" is "good news! you can" :)
- saganus 5y ago
  Well, none of those options do what I want. More often than not, sorting by "Active", "Oldest" and "Votes" usually surface the same 2 or 3 answers, and I still need to scroll down to the bottom to find out the most recently posted answer that has more up to date info. I don't see why I shouldn't have the choice to sort by "Reverse Oldest" if you will, when it's so useful a lot of the time.
ooOOoo 5y ago
This is why Stack Overflow has just started the "Outdated Answers project" in which users can set answers as outdated: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405302/introducing-outdated-answers-project https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405302/introducing-...
bachmeier 5y ago
> If I search for something related to javascript for example As someone that's been learning a little JS over the last year, I quickly came to the realization that you skip over the SO links that come up in the search, and you go to one of the many other sites. I've had good luck with w3schools and mdn. SO is a lost cause for JS.
- saganus 5y ago
  I agree. However sometimes I am looking for some error related to a botched nodejs install for example, or something that has to do with permissions being set incorrectly and other stuff that does not live in MDN and other documentation sources. For the actual language questions I do go directly to MDN instead.

acomjean 5y ago

I always thought the should have a language version. Eg python3, php7. JavaScript es6....

Cthulhu_ 5y ago
Tags work to categorize by language (https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/python-3.x); https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/python-3.x); by having multiple languages on one site, you'll have a broader audience because there's few developers that only work with one singular language.

apnorton 5y ago

There are three buttons that act as sorting directions at the top of the answers section: "Votes," "Oldest," and "Active." The "Active" option sorts by most recently modified, which is _usually_ what you'd want instead of strictly newest. (i.e. an edit would update the timestamp, making that answer have a more recent activity date) So, I guess the answer to your question of "why can't I" is "good news! you can" :)

saganus 5y ago
Well, none of those options do what I want. More often than not, sorting by "Active", "Oldest" and "Votes" usually surface the same 2 or 3 answers, and I still need to scroll down to the bottom to find out the most recently posted answer that has more up to date info. I don't see why I shouldn't have the choice to sort by "Reverse Oldest" if you will, when it's so useful a lot of the time.

ooOOoo 5y ago

This is why Stack Overflow has just started the "Outdated Answers project" in which users can set answers as outdated: https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405302/introducing-outdated-answers-project https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/405302/introducing-...

bachmeier 5y ago

> If I search for something related to javascript for example As someone that's been learning a little JS over the last year, I quickly came to the realization that you skip over the SO links that come up in the search, and you go to one of the many other sites. I've had good luck with w3schools and mdn. SO is a lost cause for JS.

saganus 5y ago
I agree. However sometimes I am looking for some error related to a botched nodejs install for example, or something that has to do with permissions being set incorrectly and other stuff that does not live in MDN and other documentation sources. For the actual language questions I do go directly to MDN instead.