Messages in river are sorted by timestamp using a (non-cryptographic) hash of the message signature as tie-breaker, essentially a content hash.
One weakness is that we trust the message author to provide an accurate message timestamp, however bad behavior such as manipulating timestamps can be addressed by banning the user from the room.
If due to some technical glitch someone's timestamp is just off by a minute or something, I wouldn't exactly call that “bad behavior” that warrants banning someone, but it does mess with ordering in a chat application...
Messages in river are sorted by timestamp using a (non-cryptographic) hash of the message signature as tie-breaker, essentially a content hash.
One weakness is that we trust the message author to provide an accurate message timestamp, however bad behavior such as manipulating timestamps can be addressed by banning the user from the room.
If due to some technical glitch someone's timestamp is just off by a minute or something, I wouldn't exactly call that “bad behavior” that warrants banning someone, but it does mess with ordering in a chat application...
It could, but it hasn't been a problem in practice. If it becomes one we can certainly address it.