I think creation_date
is a default/universal sorting, unless activity_date
is available. (But you know what they say happens when you "ASSUME".)‡
Evidence for:
- Seems like it would be required if paging is going to work well.
- This post has 753 edits (759 revision entries) and the creation dates are all in descending order.
- This post has 429 edits (502 revision entries) and it has at least 1 edit of each subtype ([title, body, tag] x [edit, rollback] + suggested edit). The creation dates are all in descending order.
- Other routes seem to sort by
creation_date
although sorting parameters are not supported by the route. - Likewise,
/events
sorts bycreation_date
, descending, despite that being unmentioned in the livedoc. - This way old answer about API version 1, has the lead developer saying:
Because sorting by dates is much more common than by name, ordering is descending by default.
**Evidence against:**
- It's not explicitly stated anywhere.
- The various inconsistent behaviors as documented in the unresolved bugs here on Stack Apps. And on Meta Stack Exchange, and on Meta Stack Overflow.
‡ They say that you've made a cost-effective branching decision based on knowledge and experience. And that it in no way precludes you observing-for and reacting-to signs that the assumption was false.