[rMBP]

The asc/desc triangles bugs me too. Arrows would indicate order (⬆︎ = rising, lowest to highest). Triangles aren't arrows and should IMO be the reversed, like a pyramid (▲ = ascending, smallest on top). I just noticed HN uses triangles as arrows for upvotes, whereas Reddit has the arrows.

[mattdotc]

Good to know I'm not alone in this reasoning. I've seen the flip-flopped behavior on other sites, and it is a pet peeve of mine.

[rMBP]

Websites are one thing. It really gets annoying when different applications in an operating system "can't agree" on what to use. I've seen both in Debian/Gnome apps, but that's kind of to be expected from (F)OSS software as rules for UI are less strict/not very well defined.