# Date posted is easily confused with year posted **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [September 20, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075 "2020-09-20T12:25:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/1 "2020-09-20T12:25:02Z")
I was going to post this earlier but didn’t in case it was just me. But then someone just bumped a thread by mistake from 2014 because they read “April '14” as “April 14”. Would it be hard to change it to a format like “April 2014” when it is more than a year old so that it is harder to make this mistake? I know I always have to look close for the apostrophe and now I know I am not alone in this. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/2 "2020-09-20T12:45:11Z")
I don’t see why the whole date and the time along with it can’t be posted. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/3 "2020-09-20T13:23:27Z")
Times would definitely be helpful. Right now, when I see that a thread was last posted to “14 hours ago”, I have to stop and think: Was that before or after 7 AM, when I was last on the board? Or when I walk away from the board for a while, and come back: Was that “14 hours ago” from the time when the page was loaded (when was that?), or from now? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/4 "2020-09-20T14:29:57Z")
I made the same point several months ago. > [@Post date format](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/post-date-format/913341): > > Could we change the date format on posts, please. It should show full day month and year. Preferably time, too. Here’s an example of the problem. This recently resurrected thread [Someone explain Kent Hovind](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/someone-explain-kent-hovind/543723) originally from 2010. Early posts are dated as Jun '10. Recent posts are dated as Jun 9 and Jun 10. It’s confusing. And let’s keep the month as a word, not a number. It avoids the usual ambiguity of day/month vs month/day. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/5 "2020-09-20T14:58:24Z")
Mine shows the full date and year- **P\_M** ’s last post shows “Sep 20, 2020 10:29am” when I hover my mouse over the time field in a given post. Are you all looking at a different part of the thread or something? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/6 "2020-09-20T15:02:16Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Mine shows the full date and year- **P\_M** ’s last post shows “Sep 20, 2020 10:29am” **when I hover my mouse over the time field** in a given post. Are you all looking at a different part of the thread or something? - Which is less than intuitive when the whole rest of the world simply displays the information. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/7 "2020-09-20T15:20:48Z")
We’d rather not have to hover to see the date. Just display it. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/8 "2020-09-20T15:42:14Z")
There is also no hovering when viewed on a mobile device. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 20, 2020, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/9 "2020-09-20T16:08:56Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Mine shows the full date and year- **P\_M** ’s last post shows “Sep 20, 2020 10:29am” when I hover my mouse over the time field in a given post. Are you all looking at a different part of the thread or something? I’m on a smartphone. No mouse, no hover. Edit: What **eyebrows** said. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/10 "2020-09-21T06:53:38Z")
My God! It was 21 years ago that I was working 10-12 hour days, trying to fix decades-old COBOL programs to use a 4-digit year in dates, so they would work properly after Dec 31, 1999. Couldn’t even really celebrate that New Year’s Eve much, because I was on call, and might have to drive in to work if problems occurred. And now these young punk designers are making the same kind of mistake, and don’t even have the justification of the extreme high cost of storage for every extra character? _The more things change, the more they stay the same._ ---
**Author:** ![Noborry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noborry/32/2564_2.png) [@Noborry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noborry)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/11 "2020-09-21T07:02:43Z")
Displaying the year date as anything other than 4 digit is just plain stupid. A 4-digit year is unambiguous. A 2-digit number can be year, or a month, or a day of month. Or even an hour or minute or seconds display! But as for the “14 hours ago”… that is very handy, because we live on a world with many timezones, and showing time as an absolute becomes meaningless without _also_ knowing what timezone it refers to. And is that timezone subject to daylight saving adjustment or not? ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/12 "2020-09-21T07:03:06Z")
I’m sure the full date and time is stored. It’s just a matter of how it’s displayed. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 7:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/13 "2020-09-21T07:28:01Z")
> [@Noborry](#): > > But as for the “14 hours ago”… that is very handy, because we live on a world with many timezones, and showing time as an absolute becomes meaningless without _also_ knowing what timezone it refers to. And is that timezone subject to daylight saving adjustment or not? Handling timezones is pretty basic. I can’t think of any forum software that doesn’t. You can ask the user where they are, or for their timezone, which is what vBulletin did. You can also probably use other info nowadays, like your GPS/location info, or just geolocating an IP address–just let the user override it. Discourse has the info–I see correct times relative to me when I hover over the text. It would seem to only be a theme issue that it isn’t displayed. I can’t say I find either one all that useful in day-to-day posting. But I would marginally say that the actual time is more useful. Where I find it most useful, though, is in going back and looking at a historical thread, like the 9/11 one. But that’s where the software uses month/year, which isn’t really useful for each post, as most threads don’t span multiple months. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/14 "2020-09-21T19:56:55Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > I’m on a smartphone. No mouse, no hover. > > Edit: What **eyebrows** said. Tap on the number/hours/date for a pop-up with the exact datetime to appear ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [September 21, 2020, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/15 "2020-09-21T20:44:17Z")
Never mind. [/EmilyLitella] ---
**Author:** ![codinghorror](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/codinghorror/32/4242_2.png) [@codinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/codinghorror)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/16 "2020-09-24T17:49:10Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > There is also no hovering when viewed on a mobile device. You can also tap there to get the full date on mobile, as noted above. > [@GreenWyvern](#): > > I’m sure the full date and time is stored. It’s just a matter of how it’s displayed. That’s correct! You can view source to see yourself, if you’re curious. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/17 "2020-09-24T19:00:09Z")
Can you make it so it’s displayed by default, as we keep asking in this thread?? ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/18 "2020-09-24T23:00:18Z")
I don’t know if I posted in one of the earlier threads about this but I want to add that for me too, it would be very nice if this change could be made. I do not like this time display system. I’d rather see the actual time and date–whether the post is from 3 days ago or 3 years ago. Can’t get more unambiguous than that. I’m not a fan of purposely and unnecessarily introducing ambiguity into a system. That’s bad design, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/19 "2020-09-24T23:04:29Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > Can you make it so it’s displayed by default, as we keep asking in this thread?? Exactly. Just because we _can_ find out the exact date doesn’t mean that it isn’t more confusing and time consuming than displaying the full timestamp. Especially when the only difference can be a little tick mark next to the date/year. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2020, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/20 "2020-09-24T23:21:35Z")
If TPTB insist on this modern stylish “user friendly” form of relative and approximate dates then simply display the years on the old ones in all 4 digits. i.e. a three+ year old post should not say **'17** instead it should say **2017**. Nobody is going to think **2017** represents the day number in a recent month. If this is stylable it’d be easy enough for somebody who knows Discourse theming to tweak it up for those who want it. Reading the page source makes me think the translation to relative / short date is not themable. If that’s true then this is either an existing configuration switch TPTB could flip or it’d have to be a code change by Discourse people to the core Discourse engine itself. Two chances of that latter change: slim and fat. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075.md?page=2)