[wp-hackers] peculiar problem on setting GMT

[Otto]

The problem with setting time zone on a per-user basis is that posts
can then get out of order when displayed chronologically.

Example: I'm in Central, another user who can post is in Eastern time.
It's 6pm here, 7pm there. He makes a post at 7 pm his time, then a
half hour later, I make a post at 6:30pm my time. My post will show up
before his, even though I made it later.

Since most cases involve displaying posts in some order by time, this
is problematic.


Obviously, one could do calculation and change the display times to
the time zone of the user viewing them, but then valuable information
is lost. I probably don't care what time it was for *me* when he made
the post. But I might care what time it was for *him* when he made the
post. Showing the time he made it in my timezone is rather pointless.
What if he's talking about having his lunch but I see his post at 3am?
Confusing, at best.


-Otto