# 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:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**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, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/21 "2020-09-24T23:29:06Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Especially when the only difference can be a little tick mark next to the date/year. But that’s wrong. A freestanding number is NEVER the day of the month. Those always have the name of the month next to them. As I write this posts from yesterday say “Sep 23”. They NEVER say just “23”. I agree that the apostrophe on a shortened year number is easy to overlook. But the 3-letter month abbreviation is hard to overlook. If there isn’t a month in words, then the number you see is a year. Always and everywhere. ---
**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, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/22 "2020-09-24T23:45:01Z")
I’m not understanding what you’re saying. The only difference **on this website** is a little tick mark next to the [date]/[year] which differentiates the two, for instance [here](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-does-a-thread-become-a-candidate-for-zombification/83153) which has time field containing “Mar '19”. Here, some posts say “Sep 20”. Both are three letter abbreviations of months, followed by a blank, followed by an optional tick mark, followed by one or two numbers. No free-standing numbers involved. ---
**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 25, 2020, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/23 "2020-09-25T15:18:50Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > I’m not understanding what you’re saying. That’s because I don’t know what I’m talking about. D’oh! I had recalled that very old posts just showed **'17** = the year and only the year. You’re correct that they actually show **Sep '17** = month and year. So the only difference between e.g. 3 years ago **Sep '17** and 2 weeks ago **Sep 17** is the tiny **’** Exactly as you say. I thought sure I’d seen the **'17** format before but now I can’t locate an example. Sorry! ---
**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 25, 2020, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/24 "2020-09-25T16:20:34Z")
I’ve also come across cases like that, and read the date incorrectly at first. It’s very easy to miss that apostrophe when 99% of the dates you look at are in the current year. If the year is not the current year, it should always be shown in full. **Sep 2017** , not **Sep '17**. ---
**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 25, 2020, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/25 "2020-09-25T16:21:19Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > But that’s wrong. A freestanding number is NEVER the day of the month. Those always have the name of the month next to them. As I write this posts from yesterday say “Sep 23”. They NEVER say just “23”. > > I agree that the apostrophe on a shortened year number is easy to overlook. But the 3-letter month abbreviation is hard to overlook. If there isn’t a month in words, then the number you see is a year. Always and everywhere. But if there IS a month in words, then the number you see might be a year anyway. Basically, a post from a few days ago might be dated **Sep 17** , while a post from a few years ago might be dated **Sep '17**. Do you really not see a problem with that? ---
**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 25, 2020, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/26 "2020-09-25T16:44:34Z")
Keep reading. ---
**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 25, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075/27 "2020-09-25T16:55:17Z")
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