Ok, I didn't quite get all that, but it is hard-coded to have announcements stick at the top of the lists. To do that, it first grabs all announcements, then stickies, then the regular topics. But announcement types are set by a radio button on the posting page for new topics. So, even if an admin is editing, he can change it from announcement to sticky or normal, and vice versa. Oh wow.

dougk_ff7.... stand by for sig! oooh! wow.