> Why? Just do this when a new chat is rendered. Wasn't the whole point to reduce CPU cycles? This code makes me think otherwise. 

Not sure if I'm understanding you...when the user scrolls up, the old chats need to be re-shown. I don't see how tying it to the onMessage event will accomplish that.

> Not hide older messages if I'm currently scrolling back

So you're suggesting using a unbounce sort of thing here? rather than suppressing all the hiding/showing stuff from happening via some bounds? Or maybe i'm misunderstanding...?