Display time on entries and replies.

[medrin]

Title:
Display time on entries and replies.

Area:
entries

Summary:
Some way to know how long ago an entry or reply was actually posted, taking into account the different time zones.

Description:
This is something that annoys me form time to time. I look at the time stamp on an entry or reply and have no idea how long ago it was actually posted, considering that I don't know where the poster lives. At the same time I would not want to lose the ability to see what time it is for the poster.

On replies to entries the time is displayed as xx:xx am/pm (local), which I take to mean the local time for the poster of the reply. My suggestion is that instead of the (local), display the time difference between the poster and the chosen time zone on my logged in account. For example (+8h) or (-2h). When not logged in it could go back to (local) or show the difference to GMT.

I would personally prefer if this was added to the entries as well, but I can understand it if other people think that this would take up to much space.

Poll #1395 Display time on entries and replies.

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 29

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
14 (48.3%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
8 (27.6%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
1 (3.4%)

(I have no opinion)
4 (13.8%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (6.9%)

Comments

[gchick]

with changes: use fuzzy human-readable time offsets (a few minutes ago, about an hour ago, yesterday, etc.) rather than GMT offsets or +/-

[eleanorjane]

+1

[turlough]

On replies to entries the time is displayed as xx:xx am/pm (local), which I take to mean the local time for the poster of the reply.

If you've set your time zone here "local" refers to your time, not the posters. (I'm afraid I've got no idea what time is displayed if you haven't set your time zone or is not logged in.)

Some styles - I don't know which offhand and really think it should apply to all styles as well as site schemed comment pages - tells you what time that was in the commenter's timezone, and/or how many hours had passed since the original entry was made when the reply was made. (Does that make sense?)

[katieastrophe]

+1

[susanreads]

Other: I would prefer entries to display the time (local), which is local to me when I'm logged in, as well as the existing posting time which is the time in the OP's timezone. Then it's consistent with the time shown for comments; the "so many hours after entry" only appears on some styles (I've only noticed it once) and only as a mouse-over tooltip.

[kyrielle]

This, please.

[sky]

+1

[thedivinegoat]

+1

[dragonfly]

I never have any idea whether the "local" means my time or theirs, and if it varies from style to style, then something really needs to make that clear or it's fairly useless.

[msilverstar]

I would like to see both GMT and the time in my timezone, and instead of "local" something like "your time zone (PDT)".

It would also be cool if the reading page sorted that way, as entries jump around in mine, especially if someone in California posts in the evening, between two Australian posts which are the next afternoon!

[thorfinn]

vote one for iso8601 time format!

2009-10-07 18:00 +1100

:-)

More seriously, some kind of time format option user preference would actually be good - allowing the user to specify what kind of format they'd like their times to be displayed.

And yes, "local" is confusing - poster-local or reader-local?