Forum clock has changed time? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 05:02:49 am
content: Has anyone else seen their forum clock move backwards an hour just recently?Is this permanent?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 05:21:03 am
content: IIRC I changed the server tiem last week because it was set to Melbourne time

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 05:36:15 am
content: What time is it set to now?

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 05:37:40 am
content: Because it is 15:37 now in Melbourne.

author: BrianHG
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 05:51:47 am
content: The forum tells you your set time at the top left of the web page where it says:Hello Show unread posts since last visit.Show new replies to your posts.August 16, 2019, 01:50:28 am

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 07:55:59 am
content: I'm just saying nothing seems to have changed for me and Sydney and Melbourne are the same time zone.

author: Tom45
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 16, 2019, 02:24:15 pm
content: Quote from: BrianHG on August 16, 2019, 05:02:49 amHas to do with summer vs. winter time in the two hemispheres. There are 4 different time offsets because of when the time switch over occurs differs between down under vs. here.Click on Profile and then just above where it says Summary, move your mouse over Modify Profile (it's a button even though it doesn't look like it) and choose Look and Layout.The Time Offset in use is shown. It's -17 for me right now. Click the auto detect and it will be correctly set for you.This procedure is necessary 4 times per year to keep the forum time accurate for those of us in the northern hemisphere.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 01:07:58 am
content: This is not the time of year the daylight savings time is changed in Australia. No Queensland forum members, a state that does not observe DS time, have reported changes.If you're correct in suggesting 4 changes per year are necessary for some members then that is just a good reason to set the servers to UTC. Surely that would have arisen as an issue by now.There must be another explanation.https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/facts-and-figures/time-zones-and-daylight-saving

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 01:26:10 am
content: +1 vote for the base time to be UTC.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 02:30:00 am
content: Quote from: TheSteve on August 17, 2019, 01:26:10 amBoth myself and gnif (who does all the server admin) are both in Sydney time zone

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 03:00:05 am
content: Quote from: TheSteve on August 17, 2019, 01:26:10 amI've asked for this before, but it seems one or two people (however important they may be..) not having to change their forum settings or do a little mental math outweighs the majority of the forum needing to alter their offset four times a year.Really SMF should be able to deal with it, but it doesn't.

author: Tom45
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 04:34:11 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on August 17, 2019, 01:07:58 amMy personal experience is that I can go quite a long time before noticing that the forum time disagrees by an integer number of hours with my local time. For example only about a month or two ago I noticed, and corrected for, the time changes that took place in March and April.To be right on top of it, the 4 changes are:Second Sunday in March North America switches to summer timeFirst Sunday in April, Australia switches to winter timeFirst Sunday in October, Australia switches to summer time.First Sunday in November, North America switches to winter timeI used to do quite a bit of business with customers in New Zealand and had to keep up with each transition so that meetings and phone calls took place at the proper times. Now I have the luxury of being able to mostly ignore it.

author: wilfred
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 04:47:51 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 17, 2019, 02:30:00 amDon't you have to change the servers times twice a year now anyway?

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 06:40:47 am
content: Quote from: wilfred on August 17, 2019, 04:47:51 amDon't think I've ever bothered actually.

author: TheSteve
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 07:39:46 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 17, 2019, 02:30:00 amYour forum - your rules.Although it would benefit roughly 50000 other users.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 17, 2019, 01:12:03 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 17, 2019, 06:40:47 amNo, you wouldn't have to - it's set to your timezone, including DST changes. Which makes everyone else do it four times a year.

author: tooki
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 19, 2019, 11:06:13 am
content: What kind of stupid forum software doesn’t just use UTC internally and then convert it to local time on display?! That’s basically how every OS does things now...

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 10:57:14 am
content: Quote from: TheSteve on August 17, 2019, 07:39:46 amHappy now?

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 11:49:28 am
content: The am/pm is the wrong way around for me!Local Time: August 20, 2019, 12:47:43 amedit:Fixed it by setting Time Offset: 1 auto detect set it to -11.August 20, 2019, 12:56:20 pm

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 12:01:26 pm
content: I never check the forum time but now that I check something definitely ain't right. Forum indicated time: 4 AM, my time: 2 PM. 10 hrs difference.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 12:08:52 pm
content: Quote from: soldar on August 20, 2019, 12:01:26 pmYou have to set a time offset from UTC in your profile

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 12:36:12 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 20, 2019, 12:08:52 pmOK. Done. Although I believe I was showing the correct time before this change so I am not sure it is related to UTC, server time or what. And if I may have to change it manually when winter time kicks in again.If I had the correct time before I should continue to have the right time now because my time zone has not changed. I assume even if the server's time zone is changed that does not affect anything because timestamps would include deviation from UTC.Not that it is of any major importance.I have had big problems with my home security camera systems on this account. The cameras seemed to change their time randomly adding an hour here and there and I finally just put the entire system on UTC. Then once I had to explain to the police why the time stamp on the video was two hours off local civil time. The guy was not sure and we had to check sunrise to see the "real" time.

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 02:31:48 pm
content: I'm in Melbourne where the forums clock was originally set to which meant that the time was always correct regardless of whether I was logged in or not. With the change to UTC the forums time now shows that it is currently ten hours behind so the +10 offset is only applied when I am logged in, as I mostly read the forum as a guest or signed out this is now horrible. Is this what people elsewhere experienced prior to the change or am I missing something ?.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 02:49:13 pm
content: Quote from: Muttley Snickers on August 20, 2019, 02:31:48 pmYes, that's what is was like around here, half a day difference between logged in/out. It's only 1 hour (BST) difference here now between logged in/out .

author: Muttley Snickers
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 03:03:55 pm
content: Bugger, I liked it the way it was before but if it benefits others elsewhere then so be it. Being ten hours in front puts us in a different day so keeping track of new posts whilst signed out is going to be tricky from now on.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 03:15:47 pm
content: Quote from: Muttley Snickers on August 20, 2019, 03:03:55 pmI had never really thought about this problem but, thinking about it, I guess there is no "solution" that will work for everyone other than to be logged in.The "problem" for me seems to be that I cannot set a time zone in my settings but what I can set is a time difference with the server so if the admin decides to set the server to a different time zone I need to go and correct my offset. This seems like a bad board software design. My user time zone should not depend on the server time zone but on a UTC offset.Minor problems though.

author: RoGeorge
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 04:41:50 pm
content: Is there any way to see my forum pages time according to my timezone?Here is 19:42:00 (aka 7 PM), but for whatever reason the forum displays 07:42:00

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 04:46:27 pm
content: Quote from: RoGeorge on August 20, 2019, 04:41:50 pmForum profile -> Modify Profile -> Time Offset.

author: tautech
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 08:59:59 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 20, 2019, 10:57:14 amNope, not at all.If you're not logged in the maths are hard now when it was only 2hrs difference before.Had to change the forum clock this morning. Date and pm was waaaaay wrong.

author: Monkeh
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 09:02:16 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on August 20, 2019, 08:59:59 pmWelcome to the rest of the world.

author: soldar
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 20, 2019, 09:11:37 pm
content: Quote from: tautech on August 20, 2019, 08:59:59 pmI believe there are two separate issues at work here.One issue is what time to set the server clock to and that is the time guests will see. IMHO there are two options that make sense. One is local time for where the server is located, and I think that is the most common with most servers, and the other option would be UTC. This is just a matter of choice by the site admin.Another separate issue is that it seems the time stamp shown to logged-in users because the offset for each user is related to server clock and not to UTC as it should, so when server time is changed all users have to adjust their offsets. With this in mind it seems to me the best option is to have the server clock set permanently to UTC.