It would be nice if the newest posts in this section could appear at the top of each page instead of the bottom. Would it be possible for the site admin to be able to select how this is displayed?

I don't think the Message Forum is being supported anymore. "Before the end of the month", the new Threaded Message Forums will be implemented and the Message Forum will be "tossed in the trash". Websites that want to keep the Message Forum can still use it (as a guest book), but I don't believe it will be supported (no enhancements or bug fixes). I could be wrong.

Please see this thread. The new threaded forums will display new items from newest to oldest, just like these forums here.