In gmail on web with the preview pane enabled for a sorted mailbox:

archiving the first (top) message causes gmail to select the message below the archived message

archiving any non-top messages that aren’t the ultimate (bottom) message causes gmail to select the message above the archived message

archiving the ultimate (bottom) message causes gmail to select the message above the message above the archived message.

🤷🏻‍♂️

i just wanna inbox-zero from the oldest message, folks, is that so bad [I get hit in the chest w/ a tomato thrown from the audience] no, not that one, the one below it [a shoe flies by, the entire crowd is hissing and booing, an anvil drops from the stage lights and crashes to the floor just to my left] see if I press ‘y’ google is all ’n’ and imo that’s [a giant hook enters from stage right] a huge ‘L’ [the house lights come up, a google bus crashes into the venue, workers start pouring ou—