:::Problem is that the actual masses are unknown in the majority of cases, which makes sorting by mass rather arbitrary. Sorting by mass also isn't helpful for someone trying to find a specific system in the list. Sorting by right ascension at least gets the HD numbers (which comprise most of the star designations) in the right order, and doesn't suffer from the problems that alphabetical ordering has. As has been pointed out, the catalogue we use is fairly arbitrary. In addition, some stars - e.g. 55/Rho1 Cancri and Iota Horologii/HR 810 are commonly referred to by two names in the literature, which would affect sort order. I think if we're going to avoid arbitrariness in the sort order of the table, the choice basically comes down to period or right ascension. Ideally of course we'd have nice clickable "sort by this column" buttons and an interactive table, but like that's ever going to happen.