# Gmt - 6 **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 8, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451 "2002-04-08T07:53:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**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 8, 2002, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/1 "2002-04-08T07:53:30Z")
OK, so the webpage says the time shown is GMT - 6 hours. It then says that the time is 2:50. However. My watch, that I use as part of my work at which we use GMT/UTC exclusively, says the time is 0750 UTC. This should make the time 1:50 yes? Or am I wrong in thinking that GMT and UTC are the same thing (I’m 99.9% sure I’m not)? ---
**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 8, 2002, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/2 "2002-04-08T07:55:37Z")
Hmmmm. That’s probably not a very descriptive subject line sorry. Can I make a postpost change? Perhaps to: **Is the time shown on the SDMB correct?** ---
**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 8, 2002, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/3 "2002-04-08T08:04:24Z")
It looks correct to me. Remember that in the may parts of the USA, on Sunday 7 April 2002 we move our clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Savings Time. ---
**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 9, 2002, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/4 "2002-04-09T09:22:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\*It looks correct to me. Remember that in the may parts of the USA, on Sunday 7 April 2002 we move our clocks ahead one hour for Daylight Savings Time. \*\* Well if it’s Daylight Savings Time at present, the little blurb at the bottom should say GMT - 5. At present the website says: Times are GMT - 6 Current time is 4:19am As GMT is 0919, one of the above statements is incorrect. Either times are GMT - 5 or the current time is 3:19am Thank you for your patience with my nitpick 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Andy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/aeb1de/32.png) [@Andy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2002, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/5 "2002-04-09T10:04:42Z")
I’ve not really thought this through too carefully, so there could well be a big blunder here somewhere, but, the time according to the board is ca. 11 am GMT. How can that be right? It is about 11 am, but we switched over to British Summer Time a couple of weeks ago. Isn’t it 10 am GMT? Am I an idiot? ---
**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 9, 2002, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/6 "2002-04-09T11:34:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Andy \* > \*\*I’ve not really thought this through too carefully, so there could well be a big blunder here somewhere, but, the time according to the board is ca. 11 am GMT. How can that be right? It is about 11 am, but we switched over to British Summer Time a couple of weeks ago. Isn’t it 10 am GMT? Am I an idiot? \*\* No you’re not an idiot. Some minor thing seems to be wrong with the time function. BST should be 1 hour ahead of GMT. So when your personal clock said 11:00am it is 10:00am GMT which _should_ make the board’s time 4:00am (GMT - 6). But you posted at around 5:00am according to SMDB Time. So basically, the math don’t add up dude! I’m sure I have something more important to worry about! ---
**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, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/7 "2002-04-11T14:20:50Z")
Sorry for the delay Skogcat. I got lazy but since several people are asking about it, I described the behaviour of the software in the technical issues FAQ. ---
**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, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/8 "2002-04-13T09:27:20Z")
I have read the explanation in the technical issues thread. Neither the daylight savings issue or the GMT issue accounts for the incorrect times. GMT is not affected by Daylight Savings. GMT + 9.5 should currently equal 6:53 SMDB says that GMT + 9.5 = 7:53 Conclusion: SMDB has GMT set 1 hour fast. When I log in as a guest I get GMT only and it is consistantly 1 hour fast. I have my watch set to GMT for my job so I’m not getting confused by any arithmetic or anything. Appologies for starting a seperate thread on the same topic 🙂 ---
**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 13, 2002, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/9 "2002-04-13T14:03:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > Conclusion: SMDB has GMT set 1 hour fast. Yes. That’s so that everyone who is in the same timezone as the server doesn’t have to go manually change their user options to see the correct time on their posts. ---
**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 14, 2002, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/10 "2002-04-14T04:15:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Arnold Winkelried \* > \*\* > > Yes. That’s so that everyone who is in the same timezone as the server doesn’t have to go manually change their user options to see the correct time on their posts. \*\* Are the majority of posters in the same timezone as the server? I suppose they probably are. ---
**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 14, 2002, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/11 "2002-04-14T04:24:07Z")
How do I manually set the time offset? I can’t just select another timezone 1 hour behind mine because it is a 1/2 hour out, ie there is no option for GMT + 8.5. ---
**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 14, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/12 "2002-04-14T05:36:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > Are the majority of posters in the same timezone as the server? Maybe not, but the majority are in an area whose DST scheme matches that of the physical location of the server. ---
**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 14, 2002, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/13 "2002-04-14T05:37:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Skogcat \* > How do I manually set the time offset? You can’t. > [@](#): > > there is no option for GMT + 8.5. There is now, created specially just for you. Now don’t say I never did anything for you. ---
**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:** [April 14, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/14 "2002-04-14T18:42:29Z")
Just to clarify the nitpick: The SDMB is set for GT (Greenwich time) -6, aside from perhaps a week or two difference in when England and the U. S. switch to summer time. However, the page does not say “GT”, it says “GMT”, or Greenwich **Mean** time, which specifically means “Greenwich time without the funny summer adjustments”. In other words, in the summer, GT is an hour ahead of GMT, and it’s the former, not the latter, that the Board (approximately) tracks. ---
**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 17, 2002, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/15 "2002-04-17T06:59:49Z")
Ok, I’m impressed!! Thank you very much **Arnold Winkelried** 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2002, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/16 "2002-04-17T18:12:33Z")
Can the offset be set for the “half” time zone, in Nova Scotia? ---
**Author:** ![Fiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e274bd/32.png) [@Fiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiver)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2002, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/17 "2002-04-19T12:25:50Z")
Hey, I posted after **Skogcat** on the 17th, but the forum view still shows his post as the last one. What’s up with that? ---
**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 19, 2002, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gmt-6/102451/18 "2002-04-19T14:28:03Z")
Fiver - a) exactly what offset would you need b) If you read the technical issues FAQ you will notice a section saying that sometimes the post creation process gets interrupted because the database is too busy. That’s probably what happened to your “last post by” in the forum display.