Sticky not working with query_posts()

[kingjeffrey]

Sticky posts do not always float to the top when using query_posts().

Things work as expected in this simple case: query_posts('showposts=9');

But sticky posts cease to work as soon as you filter by category_name, like this: query_posts('category_name=portfolio&showposts=9');

It appears that even query_posts('showposts=9'); returns unexpected results. While sticky posts do rise to the top, the number of posts returned is 9 plus the sticky count.

You can exclude sticky posts being prepended via caller_get_posts = 1.

 http://codex.wordpress.org/Template_Tags/query_posts

@nacin

Thank you. I am aware of that, but it does not address my issue.

Sticky posts do not work with query_posts('category_name=portfolio&showposts=9'); (regardless of the caller_get_posts setting.

Also, if sticky posts exist, query_posts('showposts=9'); does not return 9 posts (as would be reasonable to expect). It returns 9 non-sticky posts _plus_ all sticky posts

Sticky posts are included only for the front page and do not count against the total. This is by design.