Your database times and/or server timezone settings are/were/will be borked.

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Exhibit A: Happy New Year, NYC and all points East!! - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
“Happy New Year” to NYC - 12-31-2008 at 11:02 PM… :dubious: Conveniently, New York’s winter timezone is the same in which the threads are currently claimed to be displayed in. (GMT -5, the default setting for logged out users) This post should be from 12:02 AM.

Exhibit B: Happy New Year! - #12 by N9IWP - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
“Happy 2008 in UTC!” from 12-31-2007, 06:01 PM. If this post really was made at 00:01 UTC, it should be displayed as 07:01 PM in GMT -5.

Exhibit C: How many people's names does the average person recognise and remember? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board
While I can’t remember the exact time I posted it, I definitely know the timestamps did change in this one, because I’ve saved a local copy of the thread (well before the switch to daylight saving time).

The timestamp of the first post is[ul][li]in my local copy: 02-12-2009, 12:42 PM (at the page bottom it says: All times are GMT -5)[/li][li]currently online: 02-12-2009, 11:42 AM (at the page bottom it says: All times are GMT -5)[/ul][/li]One of these timestamps must be lying. They can’t both be for GMT -5. During the DST switch, the offset should have changed either from GMT -5 to GMT -4, or from GMT -6 to GMT -5. This board adjusts for local daylight saving time, doesn’t it? Which timezone are you in?

Seems like your entire database is off by one hour?

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Well, they didn’t want to tell you, but the servers are located in Atlantis, which is in GMT-4.

There’s been a long-running dispute between Greenwich and Atlantis as to who’s really the meanest time. Greenwich won out initially due to Atlantis being “lost” and all, but Atlantis contends that they retain the right because they aren’t really lost, they’re just found-challenged. I hope that answers your question.

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Not at all, but thanks for trying. :stuck_out_tongue:

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If the server is set to the wrong timezone and is incorrectly adjusted for daylight saving, the errors cancel each other out - but only for the currently displayed time. Threads that already existed in the database and were posted during different timezone settings would jump around twice a year. Could this be it?

Let’s assume GMT -5 is the time that’s currently correct for you (unless the site is hosted in Canada or South America …or Atlantis.) Your timezone should change from GMT -5 to GMT -6 in the winter, but there’s evidence that it didn’t change in the past. And probably won’t change in the future, unless you fix this problem.

Something’s not right with the way this site adjusts for daylight saving time. If my assumptions are correct, next winter when we switch from daylight saving back to standard time, all new threads will get filed under the wrong time again.