# Attn: SDMB Technical Staff - Day Light Saving Time and the Rest of the World **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 11, 2002, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004 "2002-04-11T09:17:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/1 "2002-04-11T09:17:11Z")
I’m guessing that the clock over there is operating on Day-light Saving Time because for several days now my clock on this page has been an hour ahead of our time here. I switched my clock option to Beijing time instead of Tokyo time, which is not really a big deal, but if there’s anybody to whom this kind of detail matters, there ya’ go ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/2 "2002-04-11T12:11:06Z")
Yes, the clock uses GMT, and is therefore subject to daylight savings time changes as they occur in the UK - and basically a lot of other countries. It would appear that Japan is an exception to the rule. ---
**Author:** ![Catmarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8491ac/32.png) [@Catmarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catmarie)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/3 "2002-04-11T12:36:09Z")
But GMT doesn’t change, in Britain we are GMT +1 until the autumn now. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![sirjamesp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@sirjamesp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirjamesp)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/4 "2002-04-11T12:43:16Z")
On top of that, the Board time didn’t even seem to follow the UK move to British Summer Time - the change was a week later on the board (I am assuming that’s when the US changed). ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/5 "2002-04-11T12:48:56Z")
The board software is geared to GMT/UTC which is constant. The correct offset for BST is UTC +1 hour. I suspect that the SDMB server is set to automatically adjust it’s offset from UTC when the US commences daylight saving time and as our timezones are then offset from the server time we end up an hour out (or two hours if you live somewhere which ends daylight saving as the US begins it). ---
**Author:** ![Catmarie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8491ac/32.png) [@Catmarie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catmarie)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/6 "2002-04-11T13:05:19Z")
What is UTC? universal time something-or-other? **Reprise** why should moving to DST change anything as the offsets are correct as long as all states do use DST eventually. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 11, 2002, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/7 "2002-04-11T14:17:13Z")
Please see the technical issues FAQ on this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2002, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/8 "2002-04-13T09:17:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Catmarie \* > \*\*What is UTC? > > universal time something-or-other? UTC = Universal Time Coordinated And is identical to GMT and what is known as Zulu time ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2002, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/9 "2002-04-13T11:55:52Z")
> [@](#): > > UTC define the universal time zone, which all the other time zones are relative to. It observes no daylight saving time (summer time). UTC is sometimes adjusted with “leap seconds” so that the > difference between UTC time and the Earth’s rotational time does not exceed 0.9 seconds. The offset between UTC and TAI is always an integral number of seconds. The last leap second added to UTC was on December 31th 1998 at 23:59:60 UTC (the last minute of 1998 had one extra second). > There will be no leap second in June 2002, but maybe in December 2002, it is not yet decided. > > \ > > **GMT** Greenwich Mean Time, as UTC > **BST** British Summer Time, as UTC+1 hour > > \ > > **AST** Atlantic Standard Time, as UTC-4 hours > **ADT** Atlantic Daylight Time, as UTC-3 hours > **EST** Eastern Standard Time, as UTC-5 hours > **EDT** Eastern Daylight Saving Time, as UTC-4 hours > **ET** Eastern Time, either as EST or EDT, depending on place and time of year e.g. New York > **CST** Central Standard Time, as UTC-6 hours > **CDT** Central Daylight Saving Time, as UTC-5 hours > **CT** Central Time, either as CST or CDT, depending on place and time of year e.g. Chicago > **MST** Mountain Standard Time, as UTC-7 hours > **MDT** Mountain Daylight Saving Time, as UTC-6 hours > **MT** Mountain Time, either as MST or MDT, depending on place and time of year e.g. Denver > **PST** Pacific Standard Time, as UTC-8 hours > **PDT** Pacific Daylight Saving Time, as UTC-7 hours > **PT** Pacific Time, either as PST or PDT, depending on place and time of year e.g. Los Angeles > **HST** Hawaiian Standard Time, as UTC-10 hours > **AKST** Alaska Standard Time, as UTC-9 hours > **AKDT** Alaska Standard Daylight Saving Time, as UTC-8 hours From the [Common Time Zone Abbreviations](http://www.timeanddate.com/time/abbreviations.html) page at [http://www.timeanddate.com](http://www.timeanddate.com) ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/10 "2002-04-15T06:25:48Z")
Well, if UTC is constant, and the SDMB follows UTC, why did the board time change? ---
**Author:** ![reprise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ea666f/32.png) [@reprise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/reprise)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/11 "2002-04-15T06:34:04Z")
The server time is set as an offset from UTC. The “board time” is always whatever time it is in Chicago. Chicago is now on daylight saving time, thus the change in “board time”. ---
**Author:** ![kuroashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9a140/32.png) [@kuroashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kuroashi)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/12 "2002-04-15T06:55:12Z")
Gotcha ya! You’d think that with all the technological advancement then, that they’d figure out not to include city names with the times, cuase it’s just wrong… ---
**Author:** ![GusNSpot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gusnspot/32/436_2.png) [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2002, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/13 "2002-04-15T07:02:20Z")
delete key? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2002, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/attn-sdmb-technical-staff-day-light-saving-time-and-the-rest-of-the-world/103004/14 "2002-04-16T18:30:44Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kuroashi \* > You’d think that with all the technological advancement then, that they’d figure out not to include city names with the times, cuase it’s just wrong… Only for locations that don’t have the same daylight savings time scheme as the board server. In any case, vBulletin developers have said they will consider improvements for Daylight Savings Time support in the next version. Also, in their defense, I will have to add that I think this is a pretty good piece of software considering the very low price.