# What time is it? Mods, correct me if I'm wrong.... **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [June 23, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195 "2010-06-23T01:35:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/1 "2010-06-23T01:35:13Z")
… but isn’t the time and date attached to our posts “zulu time and date”, or is it something else. Essentially, when I see a time and date attached to my post, and it isn’t “yesterday” to me, but it is by the “time/date” stamps STMB is using, what “time standard” are we using? I assume we are using “zulu”, because that’s when “today” becomes “yesterday”, but that comes somewhere in the 8 or 9 pm range, for me, and it always confuses me. [Count me an ID10T error, in the making, I _ **hate** _ people using different time-zones, unless they accept “zulu” as “standard”, in which case I say “GET WITH THE STANDARD, PEOPLE!!!”… Uhhhh, what was I saying?.. Oh, yeah… What’s the standard time? Is it Zulu?.. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/2 "2010-06-23T01:39:43Z")
You set the clock yourself. Go to user CP, edit options. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/3 "2010-06-23T01:58:22Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > You set the clock yourself. Go to user CP, edit options. The problem is I can set that to whatever I like. What’s the standard we are setting it to? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/4 "2010-06-23T02:05:50Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > The problem is I can set that to whatever I like. What’s the standard we are setting it to? Most people set it to their local time zone. The time stamps should reflect that. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/5 "2010-06-23T02:26:50Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > The problem is I can set that to whatever I like. What’s the standard we are setting it to? How can there be a standard? For that matter, why should there be a standard? Why should anyone else on the Dope care about what time I set my time stamp to? And why should I care about what time you set your time stamp to? I’ll never see it. All the posts will always come through chronologically no matter what. That’s why it’s totally your call. The rest of us don’t matter any more than we care about what size you set your screen. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/6 "2010-06-23T02:58:58Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > How can there be a standard? For that matter, why should there be a standard? Why should anyone else on the Dope care about what time I set my time stamp to? And why should I care about what time you set your time stamp to? I’ll never see it. All the posts will always come through chronologically no matter what. > > That’s why it’s totally your call. The rest of us don’t matter any more than we care about what size you set your screen. Eye!, There’s the rub! I want to know _ **when** _, when I post compares to when you [not you, personally, but _ **you** _, the other poster] posted. **lekatt** and **kanicbird** both have their obsessions. Mine is **“What time is it, really, according to some unequivocal standard.”**. Sorry. I’m just asking what that standard is…because I’m obsessive about it, **But I want to _know!_** Yeah, I’m obsessive about it… BTW, What time is it, where you are??? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/7 "2010-06-23T03:15:17Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Eye!, There’s the rub! I want to know _ **when** _, when I post compares to when you [not you, personally, but _ **you** _, the other poster] posted. No matter what you set your time stamp to, the rules of subtraction will always apply. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/8 "2010-06-23T03:27:56Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > No matter what you set your time stamp to, the rules of subtraction will always apply. Yes. UTC (or ‘Zulu’ or ‘GMT’) is pretty much the standard. Set all of your timepieces and web pages to GMT, and you’ll be fine. If you want to know the local time, do the math. Posts made by other posters will display whatever time you have your time zone set to, regardless of what theirs is set to. ---
**Author:** ![Dallas\_Jones](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dallas_jones/32/3277_2.png) [@Dallas\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dallas_Jones)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/9 "2010-06-23T04:15:39Z")
The GMT time is displayed at the bottom of the page if you scroll all the way down. Before I signed in just now it was showing the times as GMT -5, or Chicago time. Once I logged in the times all changed to GMT -7, or Pacific time in the US where I am at. The times for all posts will change to reflect the time zone of your choosing. It’s all relative. If you post at 1:00 your time and I post 5 minutes later you will see my post as 1:05 your time regardless of what time I am showing on my display. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/10 "2010-06-23T17:18:43Z")
> [@Cheshire\_Human](#): > > Eye!, There’s the rub! I want to know _ **when** _, when I post compares to when you [not you, personally, but _ **you** _, the other poster] posted. The board internally stores all of the posts in a common time standard (UST, I believe). When you change your setting, it doesn’t affect how other people see your timestamp, but it does affect how you see theirs. For example, you appear to be in New York, which is UST-5. I’m in Montana, which is UST-7. You start a new threat at noon your time. The software dutifully records that as 1700 hours UST. I respond at 11:00 a.m. my time. The software records that as 1800 hours UST. You will see post 1 labelled noon, post 2 at 1:00pm. I will see post 1 labelled 10:00am, post 2 at 11:00am. **Gukumatz** (who is at UST+1) will see post 1 labelled 6:00pm and post 2 at 7:00pm. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/11 "2010-06-23T17:21:07Z")
The _true_ universal standard is PST, and the _real_ time is 1021 hours. ---
**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:** [July 3, 2010, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/12 "2010-07-03T06:53:34Z")
I’d have assumed that the “official time” here was Central Daylight Time, since Cecil is based in Chicago. If I’m referring to a time in a post, that’s what I use (although I try to specify.) ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/13 "2010-07-03T09:41:13Z")
Time is cubic. At any single moment, there is a midday, a midnight, a sunrise, and a sunset. These four points are both continuous and discrete, meaning time is both infinite and finite AT THE SAME TIME! ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2010, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-time-is-it-mods-correct-me-if-im-wrong/544195/14 "2010-07-03T20:29:01Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I’d have assumed that the “official time” here was Central Daylight Time, since Cecil is based in Chicago. If I’m referring to a time in a post, that’s what I use (although I try to specify.) Cecil only lives by one time. Hammertime. You can’t touch him.