lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm   |  2 +-
 lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm | 13 ++++++-------

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
index 1fca356b60ea6a6429bf246ffeefe2fd7f3f5421..94f733bcc8504f3e7f064e20b96d3f6e2f9e35f5 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Mbox.pm
@@ -235,7 +235,7 @@ 		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Search');
 	my $over = $ctx->{ibx}->over or
 		return PublicInbox::WWW::need($ctx, 'Overview');
 
-	my $qopts = $ctx->{qopts} = { relevance => -1 }; # ORDER BY docid ASC
+	my $qopts = $ctx->{qopts} = { relevance => -2 }; # ORDER BY docid DESC
 	$qopts->{threads} = 1 if $q->{t};
 	my $mset = $srch->mset($q_string, $qopts);
 	$qopts->{offset} = $mset->size or
diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
index aa737d63b5f64b7d30df764b6b34ceaf2e3044b0..76a270bca0c01e9c6121c530ff405594f04d6114 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/Search.pm
@@ -407,18 +407,17 @@ 	}
 	my $enquire = $X{Enquire}->new($xdb);
 	$enquire->set_query($query);
 	$opts ||= {};
-        my $desc = !$opts->{asc};
 	my $rel = $opts->{relevance} // 0;
-	if ($rel == -1) { # ORDER BY docid/UID
+	if ($rel == -2) { # ORDER BY docid/UID (highest first)
+		$enquire->set_weighting_scheme($X{BoolWeight}->new);
+		$enquire->set_docid_order($ENQ_DESCENDING);
+	} elsif ($rel == -1) { # ORDER BY docid/UID (lowest first)
 		$enquire->set_weighting_scheme($X{BoolWeight}->new);
 		$enquire->set_docid_order($ENQ_ASCENDING);
 	} elsif ($rel == 0) {
-		$enquire->set_sort_by_value_then_relevance(TS, $desc);
-	} elsif ($rel == -2) {
-		$enquire->set_weighting_scheme($X{BoolWeight}->new);
-		$enquire->set_docid_order($ENQ_DESCENDING);
+		$enquire->set_sort_by_value_then_relevance(TS, !$opts->{asc});
 	} else { # rel > 0
-		$enquire->set_sort_by_relevance_then_value(TS, $desc);
+		$enquire->set_sort_by_relevance_then_value(TS, !$opts->{asc});
 	}
 
 	# `mairix -t / --threads' or JMAP collapseThreads