No, this query doesn't retrieve the items in the correct order in general. It only works for the particular data in GP because the row ordering coincides with the user's ordering there. Try ordering by `prev` on the table below, which is a different valid representation of "steal underpants" -> "???" -> "profit".

  id | text               | prev | next
   1 | "profit"           | 2    | NULL
   2 | "???"              | 3    | 1
   3 | "steal underpants" | NULL | 2