Don't forget that asp.net is caching your changes. That means that when you do change something, it may take 10-15 minutes for the change to become apparent. I don't have a ready answer for you. I would suggest changing your option to ascending and then back to descending. Wait 15 minutes, clear your cache and cookies and log back in. See what happens.
As far as the RSS goes, I think we have beat the topic to death. I've done all that I know to do to remedy your concerns (e.g., adding additional ping servers, testing RSS readers, etc.) and help you understand. What have you done to help yourself?
RSS seems to work fine for me; but, as I mentioned earlier, I access RSS differently than you do. Rather than expecting me to come up with a custom mod to the underlying CS code to perhaps make it work for your particular situation, it would be quicker for you to find an RSS reader that does not give you all the grief.
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