Is The Order of Contacts Random?

November 1, 2006 7:00 AM

What the christ kind of order is the "contacts" list in?
posted by interrobang to Feature Requests at 7:00 AM (32 comments total)

An alphabetical arrangement would be nice for finding people within your list; chronological would be nice for seeing who's just recently added you as a contact. As far as I can tell, there is no order to this list. There are people at the front and back of mine who I added recently, and older contacts are scattered throughout the middle. Can we please have something consistent and readable?
posted by interrobang at 7:00 AM on November 1, 2006

Randomization keeps people from feeling left out. There's always the chance that tomorrow I could be at the front of the list, and it's that tiny glimmer of hope that gives me the ability to roll out of bed in the morning.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:07 AM on November 1, 2006

*removes m_c_d from contacts*
posted by loquacious at 7:11 AM on November 1, 2006

We are all one family, interrobang.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:14 AM on November 1, 2006

I have often wondered this.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:17 AM on November 1, 2006

The people you link to are in order of user number (smallest to largest); the people who link to you are in chronological order of who added you.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:17 AM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

You've actually figured it out. It is in Christ's Order, otherwise known as the order in which each of your contacts accepted Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior.

It's a database flag. Pretty simple, really.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:24 AM on November 1, 2006 [3 favorites]

Hallelujah!
posted by interrobang at 7:25 AM on November 1, 2006

I hate Christ's Order.
posted by interrobang at 7:27 AM on November 1, 2006

Hmm, although I just noticed my contacts page that everyone I link to isn't in user number order anymore. Have I linked to too many people? Did I break it?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:30 AM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

It appears I have two lists in user number order- one from mathowie to jasons_planet and one from riffola on. Weird.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:31 AM on November 1, 2006 [1 favorite]

Is there a possibility this page could display the contacts in some sort of sense-making order? It's important for me to locate new neighbors and sweethearts immediately.
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 7:38 AM on November 1, 2006

look no further, jessamyn.
posted by Meatbomb at 7:40 AM on November 1, 2006

Yeah!
posted by interrobang at 7:41 AM on November 1, 2006

What Jessamyn said, I mean.
posted by interrobang at 7:43 AM on November 1, 2006

I too would appreciate some sort of rational/useful order.

Also, I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior in 1963, if I'm recalling correctly. Please make sure the database reflects this. (Of course, I expelled Him in 1965 or thereabouts, but you don't mention this as a concern.)
posted by languagehat at 7:51 AM on November 1, 2006

SELECT * from tblcontacts ORDER BY pancakestackheight ASC
posted by mr_crash_davis at 7:55 AM on November 1, 2006

It is in Christ's Order, otherwise known as the order in which each of your contacts accepted Jesus Christ as their personal lord and savior.


I guess that I should be listed as "*pending," then.
posted by leftcoastbob at 8:26 AM on November 1, 2006

Yeah!
posted by frecklefaerie at 8:28 AM on November 1, 2006

GROUP BY deity
ORDER BY piety
HAVING a_friend in ("Jesus")
posted by Armitage Shanks at 8:37 AM on November 1, 2006 [3 favorites]

it's not sorted by douchebag quotient?
posted by mwhybark at 8:46 AM on November 1, 2006

What the hell is that? An irrational database query?
posted by loquacious at 8:46 AM on November 1, 2006

Goddamn if mathowie hasn't been en fuego with the repartee recently. Between this and bingo's new favorites screen, I'm thinking it's time to put out feelers for Metafilter: the TV show.
posted by boo_radley at 8:49 AM on November 1, 2006

Between this and bingo's new favorites screen, I'm thinking it's time to put out feelers for Metafilter: the TV show.

I'd actually call it "People Who Are Incapable Of Asking Nicely Actually Getting Answers To Their Questions OR This Is A Sad State Of Affairs OR Thank God I Don't Have To Deal With Any Of These Fuckers In Real Life".
posted by fishfucker at 10:12 AM on November 1, 2006

I'm on the phone with Fox now, fishfucker. It's gonna be huge!
posted by boo_radley at 10:28 AM on November 1, 2006

My contacts list is ordered by overweening persnicketiness. Interrobang has been high on the list for years.
posted by snarfodox at 10:42 AM on November 1, 2006

overweening persnicketiness

That would be a good name for an emo band.
posted by empath at 11:03 AM on November 1, 2006

...so I guess the contacts are going to remain the way they are?
posted by interrobang at 5:11 PM on November 1, 2006

Yer fat mama's gonna remain the way she is now, interrobang.
posted by fleacircus at 7:17 PM on November 1, 2006

I spent all day setting up a new mac. I finally got windows sorted out and am going to edit the page now. It literally took like 10 hours to get everything set up right.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:54 PM on November 1, 2006

there, done. It's ordered by username. I know the layout is still kinda hard to parse, but the old way of having giant scrolling tables with all the names in each column was kind of a mess.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 8:26 PM on November 1, 2006

Thanks!
posted by interrobang at 8:34 PM on November 1, 2006