I think it would be interesting to have a mode where only the OP can post top-level, and have newest posts on top instead of the other way around. From what I know about lapis-community, it wouldn't be too hard to implement either?
I agree, Keeps content organized and would be a more effective timeline. I wonder if users would still be able to associate comments with the appropriate updates though. Perhaps comments could be grouped under each "top-level" post? Might get a bit complex that way. idk, just a thought