While we can choose which field to order by when searching in advanced mode:
… we cannot choose whether we want to order ascending or descending.
Adding orderdesc modifier would easily make it possible:
order:likes is already descending, right?
So what you want is “the opposite of the normal order that this term means”.
Not sure about this, but… How about order:-views to start at 0 and go up, while order:-latest starts at the oldest?
struggling to think of use cases for orderdesc:likes or orderdesc:views, though I am open to possibly adding order:earliest (its quite rare to need though)
We should find a way to allow for opposite ordering for any ordering type (kind of a universal way of doing it), then easier to remember and use.
You never know what one could come up with 
I’d use orderdesk:likes to identify which type of material is the worst in terms of people likes and not create similar topics, or not include them in the lists.
orderdesc:views might possibly indicate topics that need some more useful information to get more attractions from organic search.
I think there might be more use-cases I can’t think of, why not just make it possible with a single operator.
I want this feature in order to support an “inbox” use case for processing forum traffic: I have a search that I want to sort by least recently posted (so that I can work down the queue of posts awaiting a response), and I can only get most recently posted (afaict).
You might want to consider using the Unanswered filter: /latest?max_posts=1.
However, I did also write a PR to add this sorting option:
Taking suggestions as to what the name in the dropdown menu should be, I don’t really like “Oldest Update”.
Stavo cercando un modo per ordinare i risultati per più vecchio (ordine cronologico crescente, aggiungo questi termini per future ricerche sui meta…) quando cerco all’interno di un argomento.
Non sono riuscito a trovare “Ordina per Post più vecchio” (c’è solo Post più recente), ma ho provato “Ordina per Argomento più recente” e ha funzionato.
Penso di aver capito la logica, ma le parole sono un po’ controintuitive in questo caso particolare.
Una scelta di ordine cronologico crescente/decrescente sarebbe, per me, una bella aggiunta, a volte ci provo e l’ho fatto su altri forum che lo permettevano. Spesso più per divertimento che per cercare informazioni specifiche e interessanti.
Inoltre, mi chiedo quanto spesso le persone ordinino per più recente, rispetto al valore predefinito “Rilevanza”. Spesso uso “per più recente” su molti forum.