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Author Topic: Time notation  (Read 625 times)

Offline rod64

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Time notation
« on: September 10, 2004, 06:24:57 AM »
Hello,

When giving times, us guys that do not live in the US or Europe would appreciate a little more concern.

Easy fix:

Put all times in GMT (or Zulu), that way the time in the world is not based on US time (sorry to say), because we do not use US time here in Australia i.e., GMT + 8 is Western Standard time in Australia.

This may make people consider others in the world in this Online WORLWIDE game we all play.

Just a thought...
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Offline Flossy

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Time notation
« Reply #1 on: September 10, 2004, 06:37:36 AM »
All times for Special Events are given in Eastern time (EST or EDT, whichever is current).  Being in the UK myself, though, I do always give Euro-friendly events their equivalent UK and CET times.

The problem with giving times in GMT/Zulu is not everyone fully understands it.  I know that the time now, for instance is 1137 GMT, as the UK is currently on BST which is one hour ahead of GMT.  However, a lot of people tend to think that the current UK time is always GMT and it only leads to confusion.  The majority of players are in the US, so it seems reasonable that events would be advertised in one of the US time-zones.  

I have produced a Timezone Converter which you may find useful.  :)
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Offline Flossy

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Time notation
« Reply #2 on: September 10, 2004, 06:41:03 AM »
Quote
Originally posted by Flossy
I know that the time now, for instance is 1137 GMT, as the UK is currently on BST which is one hour ahead of GMT.
It doesn't help that the forums themselves indicate that all times are in GMT and yet currently give the time as 1241 instead of 1141!
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Offline Flyboy

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Time notation
« Reply #3 on: September 10, 2004, 06:53:15 PM »
i would allso like to see the time in GMT format.
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Offline BigMax

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Re: Time notation
« Reply #4 on: September 11, 2004, 10:18:44 PM »
Quote
Originally posted by rod64
This may make people consider others in the world in this Online WORLWIDE game we all play.


If you only knew how much time WE do put into arranging as many events as possible so that the whole world can play, your head would spin...

One of the main problems is some countries observe daylight savings time, while others don't... adds confusion.

How about we do it like this.... 10PM EST (-5Z)?  The minus 5 indicates our time zone so that you can do the easy math, you are (+8Z?) I think...

I'll check out Flossy's converter...
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Offline Flossy

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Time notation
« Reply #5 on: September 12, 2004, 05:25:37 AM »
What a lot of people don't appreciate is GMT is a fixed time which is unaffected by Daylight Savings.  As I am typing this message, the time in England, where the Greenwich meridian is located, is 11.25 am; however in GMT the time is only 10.25 am.  This is because we are currently on Daylight Savings so an hour ahead of GMT.  

OK, so now look at a prime example of this misunderstood time constant.  At the bottom of each forum page, it says All Times are in GMT (+ or - your timezone difference) and gives the current local time.  Here in England it says All Times are in GMT and goes on to give the time in British Summer Time, which is actually an hour ahead of GMT!  

I did a quick check of how things look in CET, the next timezone to the east......  for them it says All Times are GMT+1 and gives their current local time - this also is incorrect as they are currently 2 hours ahead of GMT.  I suspect if I was to check all the timezone possibilities on the forum, they would all be incorrect, based on GMT.  Yes, they give the correct local time, but the time difference from GMT is an hour out.

During the winter months, when we revert to GMT in the UK, all timezone differences display correctly.  It is during the summer when DS are in force that this problem is highlighted.  If the forums were truly on GMT, only the timezone difference would alter through the year, adding or reducing an hour with Daylight Savings - as an example, the time in the UK would alternate between GMT and GMT+1.

Not sure if I have made myself very clear, it is difficult to find the correct words to describe the timezone problem.  :)
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