Why are people telling me to fix my clock / timezone?

Most people organize their message lists by date received, descending. This is so that the most recent posts are at the top. Unfortunately, most NNTP servers do not reflect the date / time a post is received, but rather figure it out based on the date / time the client SAID they posted it, adjust for THEIR timezone, then perform an offset for the client's timezone. 
 
Recognizing this, many people set their clocks ahead (by hours, days or even years) in an attempt to keep their posts at the top of the list. Others simply have their timezone set incorrectly. In both cases, the post remains at the top of the list for a short amount of time or, in extreme cases, until the server purges the messages (this is a few weeks in the case of msnews.microsoft.com). 
 
When confronted, inevitably someone rushes to their defense and says "well, maybe they're in the UK, and it's five hours later there." Incorrect; the news server adjusts for that. Note that with normal clock settings, a conversation between myself (East Coast USA) and someone in the UK would look like this to me: 
 
    + my post         2:30 pm 
        - uk post         2:42 pm 
 
And would look like this to the person in the UK: 
 
    + my post         7:30 pm 
        - uk post         7:42 pm 
 
And would look like this to an observer in Los Angeles: 
 
    + my post         11:30 am 
        - uk post         11:42 am 
 
This is the beauty of the newsgroup... posts follow a logical chronological order, no matter where you're viewing the conversation. You send a post at 2:00 am your time, and I answer you at 2:45 am your time. In your newsreader, it shows the entire conversation took place in 45 minutes. Was I up at 2:45 am? No. Did you wait only 45 minutes for the response? Yes. Maybe it was 6:00 pm my time when I read your initial response. I answered at 6:45 pm my time. My newsreader also shows the entire conversation took place in 45 minutes. This is not a coincidence people. 
 
Some suggest ignoring such posts, but I am a firm believer in education. If you ignore the post, they post again (likely still with an incorrect clock), thinking that nobody saw their original message. And often people don't notice the post is future-dated, and respond. This prevents the original poster from knowing their clock is wrong (maybe it was an honest mistake), and if they do know, it sends the message that it's okay to violate netiquette rules. So get used to people complaining if you post with a future date. 
 
Using Outlook Express, there are at least four ways to eliminate this clutter from the top of your message list: 

• hit Shift+F3, click Advanced Find..., fill in the criteria that will allow you to identify the post(s), click Find Now, right click the message(s) and choose "Move to Folder" then browse to the deleted items folder;
• block the sender entirely (this is a bit harsh though!) using Message | Block Sender;
• set your options in Tools | Options | Maintenance to delete message more than x days old (it does a diff, not an absolute, so will filter messages from the future also - but will only filter messages beyond today);
• use the latest version of Outlook Express, which has a "Delete" key that now applies to newsgroup posts as well as e-mail messages; or,
• sort your message list using different criteria.