Sorting Things Out

It’s worth taking a moment to thank the folks at Instapaper, my current read-it-later service of choice. It also powers my linklog page here.

Some time ago, as I was getting things set up for using Instapaper as a public linklog, I asked them about their default sorting of items. I’d noticed that when I saved a link to a folder, that folder was sorted by recency but based upon a link’s initial save to my Instapaper.

This made using a public folder as a linklog, or using that folder’s RSS feed to power a linklog page here, problematic because it meant that if I waited weeks before reading an item, once I saved it to the folder it would be buried way down the list. It’d never even appear on my linklog page here.

Would it be possible, I’d wondered, to use “saved to folder” as the recency logic instead of the link’s initial “saved to Instapaper” date?

This week (unless I just hadn’t noticed earlier), and without any fanfare, my linklog folder began sorting by “saved to folder”. When you have OCD, little things like this as they add up over time can make a big difference. It was always in the background, nagging at me. It was a little bit of the narrative versus database problem I’ve talked about before.

So, thanks, Instapaper. Seeing my folder and the page powered by its RSS feed accurately reflecting when I’ve actually read something is a relief.