What does GMT mean in reference to the time? I live in Dallas, TX and it is now 10:02 PM, Central Mountain Time. The SDMB time is something odd like 3:00 AM. Can you clarify?
Thank you!!
GMT means Greenwich Mean Time, the time in Greenwich, England. All world time zones are based on Greenwich Mean Time.
More information at http://greenwichmeantime.com/
If you hit the “user cp” button, then “edit options” and scroll down to “time offset” you can set to your local time, ** Blonde**.
Something’s a bit odd though. I set the time to GMT+8 for Hong Kong, yet it insists that the time is one hour ahead of what it actually is here (eg SDMB shows 0900 when it’s actually 1000). So right now I have to have it set to GMT+7 to coordinate it with the actual HK time, but GMT+7 is meant to be for Bangkok, Hanoi and Jakarta.
Did I make sense? Anyone get what the monkey is goin’ on here?
Blonde: follow the instructions that donkeyoatey posted, and set to GMT-6:00. That’s Central (Dallas) time. 
I guess Arnold is on top of that, green_bladder.
From the FAQ :
(I found that searching on “Daylight Saving Time”, it was linked in one of the first threads found.)
Well I’m in Australia, but I prefer to keep the SDMB on its default Chicago time. After all, I know what my local time is (if I don’t I can just glance at the computer’s clock), but keeping the boards on a central US timezone is useful for predicting when things are likely to by busy, slow, etc.
Unlike TheLoadedDog, I like to see my local time up there under posts, mainly because I like to see how long it’s been since folk post, I don’t like going through mental gymnastics working out plus or minus whatever the time zone differences are, and apart from when NZ goes into daylight saving, it’s roses.
When daylight saving happens, I just go for the nearest zone I can find, usually an hour out.
If the board’s slow, it’s slow. I just go take a walk somewhere.
I guess that would make sense. But South East Asia doesn’t use DST though. Oh well, we’ll see what happens.
South East Asia may not, but the USA does.
Thanks for the information, y’all!!
To everything there is a season, and a TIME for every purpose.
Am I the only one who read the title as asking for zone/century?
green_bladder, I think your problem is that HK doesn’t use Daylight Saving Time (ObNitpick: not Daylight Savings!), whereas we do in the UK, and the board allows for that. So “SDMB time” is currently BST (British Summer Time), or GMT +0100.
Which is handy for me, as no gymnastics, mental or otherwise, are needed.
The SDMB clock is set incorrectly for six months every year.
GMT (or UTC) is universal. When we in Ireland/UK go into daylight savings time, we are at GMT+1.
However, the clock that the board’s version of vBulletin uses is actually changed during DST in Chicago so that what it calls GMT is actually GMT+1.
This messes with our international friends (such as Hong Kong residents like green_bladder) who don’t use daylight savings time.
I don’t know if this is Arnold’s decision, or a vagary of the software, but it is just plain incorrect.
(However, it also is no biggie either.)
<< GMT (or UTC) is universal. When we in Ireland/UK go into daylight savings time, we are at GMT+1.
However, the clock that the board’s version of vBulletin uses is actually changed during DST in Chicago so that what it calls GMT is actually GMT+1. >>
Note that Chicago goes on or off DST within a week of when the UK/Ireland do the same, so the clock is only “off” by two weeks a year if it’s set for the Chicago daylight time conversion. Except that what it calls GMT is, of course, as you say, really GDT (Greenwich Daylight Time).
The World Clock website can tell you what time it is anywhere. And they adjust for daylight time, and for all those places where the clock is half an hour different, or whatever.
Forgive me for quibbling with an Administrator :eek:, but that isn’t the point I’m making.
My point is that the clock is “off” now. Every year, when the Chicago Reader resets the SDMB clock, you’re actually changing the definition of GMT, which you shouldn’t be, because GMT never changes.
E.g. it says that the current time where I am - i.e. 14:08 - is “GMT”. It isn’t. GMT is currently 13:08. The definition of GMT on the SDMB server is currently wrong, and will not be correct until the SDMB changes back to winter time.
Also note that it’s not “Greenwich Daylight Time”, which sounds like the time you get thrown out of a bar in New York. We prefer the slightly oxymoronic phrase “British Summer Time” (BST).
In other words:
During the winter, Chicago is on GMT-5 (and the UK is on GMT).
During the summer, Chicago is on GMT-4 (and the UK is on GMT+1).
GMT does not change. And nor should it on the server.
This all reminds me of the radio blooper I heard yesterday. A continuity announcer on her first day at Radio 4 said:
(For those who don’t know, “Greenwich” is actually pronounced “Grennitch”).
So it’s like, always 10:00 am? 