Site-styled entries: remove 'UTC' or only display it when it's really UTC

[ninetydegrees]

Title:
Site-styled entries: remove 'UTC' or only display it when it's really UTC

Area:
entries, site

Summary:
Time in site-styled entries displays like so: @ 2012-06-21 22:51 UTC or @ 2012-06-21 10:51 pm UTC but, unless I'm mistaken, it uses your time (i.e. the time on your computer clock when you posted the entry) and doesn't convert it to UTC (or at least not all the time). I think it's confusing and should either display when it really is UTC or not display at all.

Description:
Tried this logged in and logged out, whether I had set a time zone or not and still got *my* time.

Poll #11024 Site-styled entries: remove 'UTC' or only display it when it's really UTC

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 57

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
52 (91.2%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
3 (5.3%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
0 (0.0%)

(I have no opinion)
2 (3.5%)

(Other: please comment)
0 (0.0%)

Comments

[inthetatras]

This has bothered me for a while, how no matter a person's time zone it always lists "their" time as UTC when it isn't necessarily. I think it would be simpler to list non-UTC times as "(local)". Using UTC everywhere isn't accurate.

[ninetydegrees]

Good idea!

[runpunkrun]

+1

[blue_rampion]

I definitely agree with this - I know I've gotten confused in the past about exact which time it was that was being listed. I always assumed way back when I first started using LJ that setting up my timezone in my settings meant that I would see all dates in my timezone, but instead they just seem to go by everyone's own dates, which is very confusing.

Also while I'm here, there has also been something else about the way the date displays that bothers me. They use the year-month-day format, while I'm used to dates being written the other way around entirely (day-month-year). This has always made reading the dates tricky for me, since I have to stop and remember which one is the month if it the day number is 12 or under. I think that instead of being displayed as a number the month should be displayed as the name of the month, because no matter how you are used to dates being written there's no possibility of confusion.

[denise]

It is (or can be) displayed that way on custom comment pages, IIRC -- it's displayed as numbers in the site skin, but I think you can set it up so you can display dates any way you'd like with custom comment pages.

If you, like me, despise custom comment pages with the intensity of a thousand suns, you may want to make a suggestion with your proposed changes -- it's different enough, IMO, to deserve a new suggestion for it!

[blue_rampion]

I do indeed despise custom comment pages (that and most of the time when I am checking the dates on comments, it's in communities where they are also turned off). I shall go and make a new suggestion for it then!

[swaldman]

Year-month-day is the ISO standard, which IMHO is the sensible way to do things if not offering any options. Far better than putting the year at the end and leaving people to guess if it's DMY or MDY!

If we already had a date format configuration setting I'd say that we should use that, but AFAIK we don't, and I don't think this is sufficient reason to add one?

Hello implementer of the FUTURE!

[kaberett]

(Dear future!me: if I'm talking to you, then I'm kinda sorry and kinda impressed.)

As per LJ release 94, "In S2 comment page styles, your local time -- not UTC -- is now shown if you have set a time zone. [LJSV-2169]"

Love (coz you're awesome),
-kab.