[wp-hackers] peculiar problem on setting GMT

[Beau Lebens]

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

If posts are stored with their GMT time (which they are), then they
would be sorted according to that, which should keep them in the
correct order all the time, since it's a "standardized scale".

> 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.

I would argue that in some cases it absolutely makes sense to display
things in the viewer's timezone, but agree that there are also times
when the opposite is true. I agree with Stephen's suggestion of having
a new template tag (function) that allows theme authors to display
whatever they want (GMT, author's time, viewer's time). Perhaps if
we're talking about a plugin anyway, that could just be added as an
option so that when users set their own timezone, they pick how they
want to see times as well.

Beau