# It's hard to see the difference between "Oct 17" and "Oct '17" **URL:** \ **Category:** Site Feedback\ **Created:** [October 20, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377 "2020-10-20T02:30:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/1 "2020-10-20T02:30:51Z")
The way that the dates are written to show when a post was made can cause confusion. Sometimes an old thread started years ago, lets say on October 3, 2018, gets bumped. Then the posting date shows as “Oct '18.” But then the new posts show as, for example, “Oct 18.” It would be much clearer if the previous-year posts were written as “Oct 2018.” ---
**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:** [October 20, 2020, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/2 "2020-10-20T02:41:20Z")
People have been complaining about this for several months. > [@Date posted is easily confused with year posted](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/date-posted-is-easily-confused-with-year-posted/921075): > > 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. > [@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. No response on it, though. ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/3 "2020-10-20T02:53:03Z")
Thanks! I looked a little to see if it was already covered, but obviously I didn’t look hard enough. (Actually I did not want to start a whole new thread for this relatively small thing, but I didn’t see a good alternative.) It’s a rather strange oversight. So much of Discourse’s user interface shows impeccable attention to detail. This is a surprising exception. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/4 "2020-10-20T03:19:21Z")
Consider yourself lucky that it’s not grayed-out by design, like the hot “edit this post” button. ---
**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:** [October 20, 2020, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/5 "2020-10-20T05:13:15Z")
This seems to have nothing to do with Discourse itself, but with the themes. The themes have been edited a few times before, and it would be helpful to change this too. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/6 "2020-10-20T08:08:52Z")
I’m glad to see that I’m not the only one confused about the dates… ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/7 "2020-10-20T14:51:44Z")
I don’t understand the reluctance to just use the entire date. I have quite a bit of experience reading dates, and I manage to read dates that include the day just as fast as dates with only the month and year. What possible benefit is there to leaving that out? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/8 "2020-10-20T14:57:17Z")
I think this is one reason a lot of zombies are getting bumped. People see “October-06” and think it means the thread was only two weeks old when in fact it was from the year 2006. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2020, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/9 "2020-10-20T15:32:14Z")
I definitely would prefer to see complete dates for all posts, new and old. Seems like a no-brainer to me. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/10 "2020-10-21T07:32:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I definitely would prefer to see complete dates for alI posts, new and old. Seems like a no-brainer to me. Yup. Times, too, if they can manage it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/11 "2020-10-21T11:52:30Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > The way that the dates are written to show when a post was made can cause confusion. Sometimes an old thread started years ago, lets say on October 3, 2018, gets bumped. Then the posting date shows as “Oct '18.” > > But then the new posts show as, for example, “Oct 18.” > > It would be much clearer if the previous-year posts were written as “Oct 2018.” I agree. Unnecessary abbreviation is unnecessary ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2020, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/12 "2020-10-21T11:57:15Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > It would be much clearer if the previous-year posts were written as “Oct 2018.” You’re right and, in fact, it is only one more character in length but much clearer in meaning. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/13 "2020-10-25T04:08:21Z")
I totally agree. The more complete the time of the post, the better. ---
**Author:** ![superwombat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superwombat/32/16616_2.png) [@superwombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/superwombat)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/14 "2020-10-25T04:21:57Z")
Paging @codinghorror for insight ---
**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:** [October 25, 2020, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/15 "2020-10-25T04:28:42Z")
I’m sure he’ll be by to tell us why we don’t need that, how we’d all better off learning how to read more carefully. ---
**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:** [October 25, 2020, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/16 "2020-10-25T04:55:49Z")
There is a reason I was not posting in this topic 😉 ---
**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:** [October 25, 2020, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/17 "2020-10-25T05:04:31Z")
> [@codinghorror](#): > > There is a reason I was not posting in this topic ;)  Is there a reason we can’t have the full date show? Besides “that’s not the way we want you to do it”? Is it an easy fix? ---
**Author:** ![CairoCarol](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cairocarol/32/3825_2.png) [@CairoCarol](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CairoCarol)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2020, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/18 "2020-10-25T05:30:13Z")
Don’t be coy. Please share with us what that reason is. ---
**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:** [February 16, 2021, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/19 "2021-02-16T06:47:26Z")
Bumping this. It’s still an ongoing issue. It can and does cause confusion. Another poster just thought a thread started in February 2015 was actually started on February 15, 2021. It’s an odd choice, since people don’t generally tend to refer to years past 2000 in this manner. I’ve _never_ seen the construction “February '15” outside of Discourse. The only situation where I see two digit post-2000 years is when using entirely numerical dates, e.g. 2/14/15. It just seems odd to not just write “February 2015,” the standard way of writing that. If it’s a setting that an admin can change, that would be nice to know, as we can hopefully have them fix this when we get an active admin. Users have no way of knowing whether something is something an admin can address. ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2021, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377/20 "2021-02-16T13:02:56Z")
Yeah, that little ’ is very easy to miss. Having at least all 4 digits for the year would be useful. In fact, I’d really like to see the full date for posts that happened in a different year than the current one. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/its-hard-to-see-the-difference-between-oct-17-and-oct-17/923377.md?page=2)