[quote=@Mahz]
Obviously the UI design here kinda sucks at that width, but until I think of something better, the idea is that people can associate the [code][-->][/code] button as the "go to the latest post" button.

If timestamps were always hyperlinked, do you think that would be obvious to people? Maybe I can just replace the buttons with hyperlinked timestamps altogether?
[/quote]

Well, I looked through a swath of boards that I'm on, and here's what I see for last posts. By [i][b]newest unread post[/b][/i], I mean the post directly following the last post a user read. By [i][b]last post[/b][/i], I mean the final post in the thread at the moment. 

IPB:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Ncx0lbW.png?1[/img]
Title link: newest unread post
Timestamp: last post

vBulletin:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/GNsIFWB.png[/img]
Title link: last post
> > button: newest unread post

SMF:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/MlsSlyZ.png[/img]
Title link: newest unread post

phpBB:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/kjYwC3t.png[/img]
Title link: last post
> > button: newest unread post

XenForo:
[img]http://i.imgur.com/Xx9q6R5.png[/img]
Title link: newest unread post

To answer your question, [@Mahz], no, I think that would be confusing behavior to link the timestamp to the newest unread post. You may be able to get away with linking the topic title to the newest unread post, however, as that seems to be conventional forum behavior in about half the modern boards.