One issue is that the meaning of author order differs depending on field. In some fields the order is already meaningless and authors are just listed alphabetic

One issue is that the meaning of author order differs depending on field. In some fields the order is already meaningless and authors are just listed alphabetically. In other fields the order is decreasing from most important contributor to least. And in yet other fields there is a system where both ends of the list are important where junior authors (like grad students) are at the start and senior scientists who mentored them at the end. But people who have only worked in one field often think that the rules of authorship in their field are universal when they aren't.