lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm   | 2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm | 5 +++++
 lib/PublicInbox/View.pm   | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index fd623f6d48bd4e63ae3fc8d762e5a75fed39f993..2565ea58a07d327b94c8947ceb705427c17fc0fb 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -115,7 +115,7 @@ 		gz => IO::Compress::Gzip->new(\$buf, Time => 0),
 		cb => $cb,
 		ctx => $ctx,
 		msgs => [],
-		opts => { asc => 1, offset => 0 },
+		opts => { offset => 0 },
 	}, $class;
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
index 8da30c19c9d87661e4f4a0b7f8435f1d69d59c81..5e6bfc68bdb3d20985ffc177660b270c6ed3cd09 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
@@ -158,6 +158,11 @@ 		$qtid = Search::Xapian::Query->new(OP_OR, $qtid, $qsub);
 	}
 	$opts ||= {};
 	$opts->{limit} ||= 1000;
+
+	# always sort threads by timestamp, this makes life easier
+	# for the threading algorithm (in SearchThread.pm)
+	$opts->{asc} = 1;
+
 	_do_enquire($self, $qtid, $opts);
 }
 
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
index c2e1ae76a400aef4395fc77641c23fe37668e3a1..ec5f7e0f162b57359714ac90bd6590fb43728420 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/View.pm
@@ -327,7 +327,7 @@
 sub thread_html {
 	my ($ctx) = @_;
 	my $mid = $ctx->{mid};
-	my $sres = $ctx->{srch}->get_thread($mid, { asc => 1 });
+	my $sres = $ctx->{srch}->get_thread($mid);
 	my $msgs = load_results($sres);
 	my $nr = $sres->{total};
 	return missing_thread($ctx) if $nr == 0;