How are the series of next badges determined?

Question

The list of next badges seems oddly sorted. Here's mine:

For instance, refiner should definitely sit between Explainer and Illuminator, as they form a set of badges.

Perhaps Archaeologist should be ahead of Socratic (Silver is easier than Gold? Editing easier than answering?)

Legendary is also ahead of mortarboard...I didn't spot this when my Freehand Circle Drawing tool (paint) was open.

So what determines this order?

Answer 1

Sorting is by how close you are to getting the badges in the first instance. You're 69% of the way to Socratic but only 50% of the way to Archaeologist so at your current rate of progress you're likely to get the Socratic badge before the Archaeologist badge.

Those badges you've made no progress at all on are shown alphabetically at the end.

If you edited and answered 1 question and got a positive score on the answer then not only would you get the Explainer badge, the Refiner and Illuminator badges would sort in order.

Answer 2

The badges do not sort by grouping. The actual comparator used for sorting is as follows:

1. Calculate progress (completed/required) for each badge, or zero for badges without any meaningful definition of "progress" such as Editor, Informed, and Benefactor.
2. Round progress to the last multiple of 1%.
3. Sort by this shiny number.
4. Sort alphabetically to resolve ties.