So what am I doing wrong?  Where can I find an example of this technique?
Any help would be greatly appreciated!

// File: SortTest.cpp

#pragma warning(disable:4786)

#include <iostream>
#include <string>
#include <list>
using namespace std;

struct longer : public greater <string>
  {
  longer () {};
  bool operator() (const string& x, const string& y) const
    { return x.length () > y.length (); };
  };

void PrintOut (string str, list <string> theList)
  {
  list <string>::iterator i;
  cout << endl << str << endl << endl;
  for (i=theList.begin (); i!=theList.end (); ++i)
    cout << *i << endl;
  }

int main (int argc, char* argv[])
  {
  list <string> listStuff;

  listStuff.push_back ("qwerty");
  listStuff.push_back ("asdf");
  listStuff.push_back ("this is a test");
  listStuff.push_back ("do not pass GO!");
  listStuff.push_back ("do not collect $200");
  listStuff.push_back ("this is");
  listStuff.push_back ("only a test");

  PrintOut ("Original list", listStuff);

  longer x;
  listStuff.sort (x);

  PrintOut ("List sorted on length", listStuff);

 return 0;
  }

Try this

#include <vector>
#include <algorithm>
#include <functional>
#include <stdlib.h>

class ID
{
public:
 ID(char letter='z',int number=0){m_letter=letter;m_number=number;}
 bool operator<( const ID& id);
 bool operator==(const ID& id);
 virtual ~ID(){}

 char m_letter;
 int m_number;

 std::vector<ID> myVect;
 for (int n=0;n<20;n++)
  myVect.push_back(ID((char)(100+((float)rand()/0x7fff)*100),
  rand()
  ));

 for (n=0;n<20;n++)
  printf("%c ,%i \n",myVect[n].m_letter,myVect[n].m_number);

 std::sort( myVect.begin( ), myVect.end( ),std::less<ID>);
 for (n=0;n<20;n++)
  printf("%c ,%i \n",myVect[n].m_letter,myVect[n].m_number);

 return 1;

It comes from the following code in the <list> header:

// ======================================================
typedef greater<_Ty> _Pr3;

void sort(_Pr3 _Pr)
{
// [most bits omitted for space saving]

while (0 < _N)
  merge(_A[--_N], _Pr);

iterator _F1 = begin(), _L1 = end();
iterator _F2 = _X.begin(), _L2 = _X.end();

if (_Pr(*_F2, *_F1))
// [still more omissions]

Thus, the version of sort that takes a parameter, always uses greater<_Ty> as
the comparison function.

The documentation says this is because:

"...if a translator does not support member template functions, the template:

template<class Pred> void sort(Pred pr);

is replaced by:

void sort(greater<T> pr);"

Well, I thought MSVC++ 6.0 supported template member functions as long as
they were included in the class definition, as these are.  I guess they
haven't gotten around to editing the STL to conform with the compiler.

--
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But I still don't understand why the list.sort (cmp) method doesn't work.
Should I conclude that it's an STL bug?