#Mastodon does not use any algorithm for 'sorting' posts but instead shows them to you on a chronological order, so based on the time(stamp)
Platforms like #Twitter, #Facebook etc don't really use a 'timeline' anymore but rather a compiled feed they serve you
On Mastodon a timeline really means timeline! No need for an AI to decide what you see, you can do that puurfectly yourself 
I always react that Mastodon absolutely uses an algorithm. Chronological order is an algorithm. It's just a particularly stupid (or simple if you prefer) algorithm that cannot help you get to the content that you want to see.
That's for better or worse.
These days I'm having to do an awful lot of scrolling to get to any interesting posts as people are using hashtags a bit liberally.
