Sort by posted on date fails if stickiness is also selected

Here it is. Note: It looks to me as if the query is generating a sort order of created descending then sticky ascending. This is not what's selected in the Sort Criteria. I have it set to Node: Sticky desc, then Node: Post date desc.

SELECT node.nid AS nid,
node.title AS node_title,
node_data_field_photo.field_photo_fid AS node_data_field_photo_field_photo_fid,
node_data_field_photo.field_photo_list AS node_data_field_photo_field_photo_list,
node_data_field_photo.field_photo_data AS node_data_field_photo_field_photo_data,
node.type AS node_type,
node.vid AS node_vid,
node_revisions.body AS node_revisions_body,
node_revisions.format AS node_revisions_format,
node.created AS node_created,
node.sticky AS node_sticky
FROM drupal_node node
LEFT JOIN drupal_term_node term_node_value_0 ON node.vid = term_node_value_0.vid AND term_node_value_0.tid = 12
LEFT JOIN drupal_content_field_photo node_data_field_photo ON node.vid = node_data_field_photo.vid
LEFT JOIN drupal_node_revisions node_revisions ON node.vid = node_revisions.vid
WHERE term_node_value_0.tid = 12
ORDER BY node_created DESC, node_sticky ASC

Right -- that's the problem. In the view I selected sort order as node:Sticky and then node: Post date -- so the view should render an order by post date, but with sticky items on top. Instead it evidently renders an order of created date, then sticky.

Note: I just gave up on "sticky" as a sort-order option, at that point, so I'm not sure if this is still a problem in the current version.

I think it's a problem inherent in the sort order logic, and how I thought "sticky" was supposed to work.

What I want is to be able to mark one or more nodes as sticky, and have them float to the top -- but I want the newest nodes on top, within each set. In other words:

Sticky nodes first, with the newest on top, then
Non-sticky nodes, with the newest on top.

This, I guess, is impossible, because the "sticky node" function is evidently really just a tag. It doesn't actually float the nodes to the top. It only does that if you select sticky/desc. If you select sticky/ascending, it puts them at the bottom of the list (not, as I want, on the top of the list, but in descending order).

Example:

Suppose I have four nodes, posted in order, A, B, C, D -- so D is the newest, and A is the oldest.

I'll make B and C sticky, so the desired order is C, B, D, A

If I do this:
1. sticky/desc
2. posted on date/desc
It will render D, A, C, B -- because first it puts all the sticky nodes on the bottom, then filters unsticky for latest on top, and then sticky for latest on top.

If I do this:
1. sticky/asc
2. posted on date/desc
It will render B, C, D, A -- because first it puts all the sticky nodes on top, then filters them for oldest on top, then the others for newest on top.

1. sticky/desc
2. posted on date/asc
Will render B, C, A, D

1. sticky/asc
2. posted on date/asc
Will render A, D, B, C

And, none of these work, because putting posted-on date first results in an absolute asc or desc order by post date. The "sticky" filter won't do anything, because in fact each node has a unique post date, which is the primary filter.

1. posted on date/desc
2. sticky/desc
Will render: D, C, B, A

1. posted on date/asc
2. sticky/desc
Will render: A, B, C, D

1. posted on date/desc
2. sticky/asc
Will render: D, C, B, A

1. posted on date/asc
2. sticky/asc
Will render: A, B, C, D

So: Any suggestions on how to get the sort order I'm looking for? I have this sense that there's something blindingly obvious that I'm missing...

Gaa! I gave up on the view in question in September when I posted that and went another route. I did actually test the permutation in question at that time, and it did fail as noted -- but just now I did the same test on a bare-bones site and it worked properly, as you note in #9.

So, evidently there is some other module/factor affecting the view output in the site that I was working on. I'll see if I can reconstruct it.