Get rid of restrictions on future-dated posts

[alexbayleaf]

Title:
Get rid of restrictions on future-dated posts

Area:
posting

Summary:
DW doesn't allow you to post a future-dated post, and then follow it with a present-dated post. There are probably other restrictions along these lines. I suspect they are all there for historical reasons that don't matter any more, and I propose we get rid of them.

Description:
I came across this bug when crossposting from my Wordpress blog using JournalPress. My Wordpress blog (and my DW, for that matter) both have their timezones set as Australia/Melbourne, which as you probably know is almost as far in the future as it's possible to be without being a hobbit. So, I posted post A from my wordpress blog, and it was crossposted. Then I went to post another post, locked to my access list, directly on my DW. I was greeted with this error message:

<blockquote><strong>Error updating journal:</strong> Incorrect time value: You have an entry which was posted at 2012-10-01 02:02, but you're trying to post an entry before this. Please check the date and time of both entries. If the other entry is set in the future on purpose, edit that entry to use the "Don't show on Reading Pages" option. Otherwise, use the "Don't show on Reading Pages" option for this entry instead. </blockquote>

Initially I was going to submit some kind of bug report, but then I got to thinking... why is this limitation there at all? It has the whiff of something that was done for historical reasons, back in LJ's early days, and hasn't been revisited.

Why do we care about future-dated posts anyway?

Before sticky posts, people used to post future-dated posts (eg. dated 10 years in the future) so they would always show up at the top of their journal. This has been superseded by the sticky post feature, though I suspect some people may still use the old technique.

<user name="azurelunatic">, on IRC, suggested that it might also have something to do with people's computers having really wacky times set on them. I can see this being a problem a decade ago, but I think almost everyone's computer these days using <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Network_Time_Protocol">NTP</a> to automatically set the time, yes? So this would be a much rarer thing than it used to be.

I don't actually have a good feeling for what the solution is here, but I wanted to raise this suggestion to ask:

1) what benefit is there to limiting posting in this way?
2) do those benefits still apply, or are they historical only?
3) can we just get rid of it?
4) if not, can we modify it so that only egregious badness is prevented, but posting from a third-party client in another timezone is permitted?

For the purposes of voting, please consider the suggestion to be "get rid of future-date limitations on posts to the greatest degree possible."

Poll #11813 Get rid of restrictions on future-dated posts

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 56

View Respondents

This suggestion:

View Answers

Should be implemented as-is.
24 (42.9%)

Should be implemented with changes. (please comment)
7 (12.5%)

Shouldn't be implemented.
10 (17.9%)

(I have no opinion)
13 (23.2%)

(Other: please comment)
2 (3.6%)

Comments

[inalasahl]

I still future date posts. I future date posts that I want to work on now (so initially they are posted set to private), but that I want to make public at a later date. I future date them to the date I plan to publicly unlock them. I like it especially if I'm working on something with a partner, and I need to give them the post URL now, but we won't be unlocking for a couple of days. I suppose I could just change the date when I unlock, but I like to have everything ready to go and not have to remember any changes.

[kyrielle]

The new posting page, that's in beta, is ultimately planned to have (but doesn't yet) saved drafts and scheduled posting.... that should be handy once available! :)

[azurelunatic]

It doesn't look offhand to me as though any part of this suggestion would break your use case.

(Though on a separate note, under the current way things are built, entries do stop showing up on reading pages 14 days after they are initially posted, even if they're edited later, so if you find you're having trouble with people not seeing entries, that could be one possible cause.)