I can't figure this out. This question was also asked here http://www.nabble.com/TableSorter-plugin---default-column-sort-DESC-instead--How--to25180761s27240.html#a25180761 with no response.
I've tried
$.tablesorter.defaults.sortInitialOrder = 'desc';
and altering the jquery.tablesorter.js file to default to 'desc' but it doesn't work. When I click on the column headers, the first sort is still ascending so the user has to click twice to descend the values.
How can I get Tablesorter to sort by descending by default?