_sort doesn't work properly for Text / Large Text Properties

(Bug, Closed -> Fixed, Priority: High, Test Status: No automated tests yet , Reported By Justin du Coeur, )
Summary: Quite surprised me, but while trying to build a page to list the Issues by submitter, I found several problems with _sort. Basically, it just plain isn't sorting on the fields I want it to.
The problem here turned out to be complex and messy, but suffice it to say, it's broken. I have it at least mostly fixed now, and it will be updated soon.
Justin: okay, this now works well enough. For good measure, I enhanced _sort to cope reasonably with empty values.