diff --git a/core/message_area.js b/core/message_area.js
index e5227ef0..98647cfd 100644
--- a/core/message_area.js
+++ b/core/message_area.js
@@ -353,13 +353,19 @@ function getNewMessagesInAreaForUser(userId, areaTag, cb) {
     });
 }
 
-function getMessageListForArea(client, areaTag, cb) {
-    const filter = {
-        areaTag,
-        resultType  : 'messageList',
-        sort        : 'messageId',
-        order       : 'ascending',
-    };
+function getMessageListForArea(client, areaTag, filter, cb)
+{
+    if(!cb && _.isFunction(filter)) {
+        cb = filter;
+        filter = {
+            areaTag,
+            resultType  : 'messageList',
+            sort        : 'messageId',
+            order       : 'ascending'
+        };
+    } else {
+        Object.assign(filter, { areaTag } );
+    }
 
     if(Message.isPrivateAreaTag(areaTag)) {
         filter.privateTagUserId = client.user.userId;
diff --git a/core/servers/content/gopher.js b/core/servers/content/gopher.js
index 37cd9adb..da09acd9 100644
--- a/core/servers/content/gopher.js
+++ b/core/servers/content/gopher.js
@@ -249,7 +249,7 @@ exports.getModule = class GopherModule extends ServerModule {
 
             return message.load( { uuid : msgUuid }, err => {
                 if(err) {
-                    this.log.debug( { uuid : msgUuid }, 'Attempted access to non-existant message UUID!');
+                    this.log.debug( { uuid : msgUuid }, 'Attempted access to non-existent message UUID!');
                     return this.notFoundGenerator(selectorMatch, cb);
                 }
 
@@ -292,10 +292,17 @@ ${msgBody}
                 return this.notFoundGenerator(selectorMatch, cb);
             }
 
-            return getMessageListForArea(null, areaTag, (err, msgList) => {
+            const filter = {
+                resultType  : 'messageList',
+                sort        : 'messageId',
+                order       : 'descending',  //  we want newest messages first for Gopher
+            };
+
+            return getMessageListForArea(null, areaTag, filter, (err, msgList) => {
                 const response = [
                     this.makeItem(ItemTypes.InfoMessage, '-'.repeat(70)),
                     this.makeItem(ItemTypes.InfoMessage, `Messages in ${area.name}`),
+                    this.makeItem(ItemTypes.InfoMessage, '(newest first)'),
                     this.makeItem(ItemTypes.InfoMessage, '-'.repeat(70)),
                     ...msgList.map(msg => this.makeItem(
                         ItemTypes.TextFile,