dates you wrote rationalise non us date formats in non us article but if your date preferences are enabled these dates would look the same in any case i was interested as i have been trying to take out the many linked stand alone years in wikipedia most often they add nothing to the article it has been fairly controversial though some users like them in some articles and there is no coherent policy removing standalone wikiyears is current policy according to wp date complete dates should be wikilinked so that they show up correctly according to user preferences however those readers who have not established accounts will see the dates presented as entered and it is preferable that u s format dates be kept out of non u s articles