# What's up with the Board's time stamps? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [November 7, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175 "2012-11-07T04:45:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/1 "2012-11-07T04:45:26Z")
Did you guys switch your time stamps to Eastern Standard Time, or did you just forget to turn your clock back from Daylight Saving Time? I just noticed that the time on posts appears to be an hour off from what it used to be. ETA: Hmmm. I noticed this on the Elections forum, but the time appears to be correct on this forum. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/2 "2012-11-07T12:56:00Z")
We actually installed use a random-number generator, the actual time-stamp was too expensive. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![jebert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ec9cab/32.png) [@jebert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jebert)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/3 "2012-11-08T04:04:51Z")
Very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/4 "2012-11-08T13:28:33Z")
Sorry. I don’t know the answer, the person I expected to be able to answer is having some real-life difficulties and so won’t get around to it for a bit, and I thought a bit of levity serve as a “please wait a bit” notice. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/5 "2012-11-08T14:28:07Z")
Okay, just synchronized the clock in my computer with “[time.hist.gov](http://time.hist.gov)” so I should be on more or less “correct” time, at least for a United States government mandated value of what time it is. I opened up a new browser window and called up the SDMB. "The time now is 09:20 AM. " That’s what it says on the bottom of the index page. Same as on my computer. This is a wild-ass guess on my part but I should mention that the message board software prioritizes some tasks over others. It is entirely possible that processing/rendering postings and assigning timestamps to those postings is not as high a priority and so by the time the system sorts everything out (especially in times of high volume/high demand/stress on the system), it’s entirely possible a few seconds or maybe even a minute or two have elapsed. I would think in view of the circumstances that this would be “close enough” for most anything or anyone here. How much of a perceived delay are you seeing? A minute? Five minutes? An hour? A day? ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/6 "2012-11-09T02:31:05Z")
I’ve noticed a blip a couple of times in the past around the time of the clock change in the US. It sorted itself out after a day or so. ---
**Author:** ![bahimes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e36b37/32.png) [@bahimes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bahimes)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/7 "2012-11-09T08:29:29Z")
At the top of the page it says I last visited at 0955 today. It is just now 0930 where I am. ETA: my post says 11:29, not 0930… ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/8 "2012-11-09T10:41:55Z")
My clock and the timestamp match. ---
**Author:** ![Panurge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/fbc32d/32.png) [@Panurge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Panurge)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2012, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/9 "2012-11-09T13:51:46Z")
> [@bahimes](#): > > At the top of the page it says I last visited at 0955 today. It is just now 0930 where I am. > > ETA: my post says 11:29, not 0930… Your posts says 9.29 (and time of edit 9.30) to me. We’re in the same time zone - I don’t know if that counts for anything in this regard. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-up-with-the-boards-time-stamps/640175/10 "2012-11-13T19:32:53Z")
Go to UserCP and then click on “Edit Options.” Check your setting for “Date and Time Options.” You might also look at the time setting for your computer. You could try this site: [NIST Internet Time Service (ITS) | NIST](http://www.nist.gov/pml/div688/grp40/its.cfm) Hope this helps.