I just noticed after logging out that the latest posts are displayed as “5:30 p.m.” or so (it’s around 11:30 a.m. here as I write this), meaning that the post times are marked using GMT. After re-logging in , the times are displayed again in my local time zone. Does anyone find this potentially confusing? Has the British Empire colonized this Board? I think the old SDMB has Chicago time as the default, so are we not keeping that on the new Board?
It’s Howdy Doody time!!!
(actually, i wasn’t confused until i became logged out while reading this thread and the time screwed up. so it’s YOUR fault!!! :D)
Actually, I think the big problem here is that as far as our dear friend Esprix is concerned, today is February 18th. If we don’t figure out a way to date-correct him, we’ll be celebrating next Christmas in mid-January.
Either that, or we’ll all need to move to Ukraine.
OK, I have to stop hijacking my own threads…
Another thing to look into. I would give this a low priority but we will try to investigate.
Thanks. I am deeply grateful for what the mods and admins are doing and certainly don’t think this is a top-priority item. But I think (I hope) you guys also want our input so that issues are noticed and pointed out.
Eh, it doesn’t matter whether the SDMB sets a Central Time zone default or not–just change it on your computer. Click on User CP, up at the top, then click on Edit Options, scroll down practically to the bottom to where it says Date and Time Options, then select your time zone.
I did that already, and the time shows correctly if I’m logged in. My question was why the default is GMT otherwise. But it’s no big deal, really, after recovering from the first few moments of “whaaa? somebody’s posting from the future?” confusion.
OK I get it. The time will be displayed according to your user preferences if you are logged in. It will be displayed according to the board’s default settings if you are not logged in. That seems to me to be right and proper.
Is your question “why are the board default settings GMT instead of Chicago, Illinois, USA time?”
Indeed - February 17th lasted way too long for my liking. But the time between yesterday (February 18th) and today (March 12th) just FLEW by.
Fortunately, the quick passage of time also kept me sane. really. Truly. 
Esprix
Yes, that’s part of it. The other part is why it changes depending on whether one is logged in or not – as I recall when I used to post from the Mountain Time Zone, times were always shown as CST regardless of one’s log-in status. Maybe that’s just one of the new vB changes. It’s really more of a curiosity than a complaint, though.
I can answer that.
It’s because GMT is the only correct time, of course. If you Americans will choose to laze around in bed all morning whilst us Brits are up and working our fingers to the bone, then I think you’ve taken quite enough advantage of the day without changing the clocks around too.
And as for those Europeans who work an hour ahead of GMT - it’s really only a ruse to be able to knock off an hour early.
I’d like to retract this part of the question. I just remembered that during my MST-posting period, I never changed my personal time offset away from CST, so of course it’ll always show Chicago time no matter what. Duh. Sorry about that.
Laze around? Bah! You go to bed at, what, 10:00, 11:00 p.m.? Man, that’s when us Americans’ days are just getting started. We get more done before you hit REM then you will in a full day!
Esprix
Yes, that’s a new “feature” of vBulletin. When you’re not logged in time will show as the default board time.