How can I make files I drag to the desktop stay where I put them?

In Mountain Lion, when I drag a file to the desktop, it's automatically moved to a neat grid in the upper left of the desktop.

But I want it to stay in the spot to which I dragged it (usually because it's one I can see, so I can drag it to another window).

I thought it might be the "sort by" setting, but it's set to "none", so that's not it.

Thanks to those suggesting I change "sort by", but it's already on "none". Here's what's weirder: the files sometimes snap to a neat grid, and sometimes appear near (but not exactly where) I dragged them, with no other changes (I literally tested a few in row from the same program). It's really bizarre since in the answer below, i cannot reproduct this and I'm trying to confirm (for others) that it was fixed by an OS update. The issue may be related to external displays being attached on systems running 10.8.2 and earlier.

Solution 1:

In Finder: cmd+J ➝ Sort by: none.

Solution 2:

1. Right Click on your desktop.
2. Select “Show View Options.”
3. In the “Sort by:” drop down, select “None.”
4. You can now place icons wherever you want.

Solution 3:

This has simply stopped happening. I think it must have been fixed in an OS update as I still regularly have an external monitor connected and no other change was made to my system.

Please upvote this only if you had this problem and it stopped since you updated. I don't want to accept this if others who updated are still having the problem and need help.