Standardized Formatting for Date/Time Info.

[Nehetsrev]

I hope this is the right place for this sort of post, if it isn't the right place, moderators please feel free to move it where it belongs.

Anyway, here's my suggestion:

I think the simplest solution for clarity's sake that DM's could do is to post the relevant text with a standardized format.  Even just the GMT Date & Time for the quest, rather than posting a listing of multiple time zones.  I think everyone knows what timezone they live in and how it relates to GMT.  It could just be formatted like:

Start of Session: day/month, hh:mm GMT
End of Session: day/month, hh:mm GMT
Start Location/Server:  place/server (with/without move to Quest Server after meeting)

I think the biggest problems come from each DM/GM using a different format and often excluding bits of information (like the date at the time in a given timezone) and thus leading to confusion when everyone is forced to guess the proper interpretation of the information.

[Dorganath]

The thing about the calendar is...if used properly (and somewhere there's a post), the calendar shows you the correct date and time according to your own time zone settings.

So a GM in one time zone can set up a quest, and anyone viewing it will see the date and time translated to their own time zone.  So in effect, it should be very not confusing.  This is in contrast to the old forums, which had no such facility and we had to rely on GMs doing time zone math...which is just frightening.

Having said that, I seem to remember the calendar having some kind of odd issue with Daylight Savings Time, but I don't recall exactly.  Again, there's a post somewhere.

[Blackguy]

Lucikly Orth have made a very easy to understand, and userfriendly guide how to setup times in using the calender.
 
 http://www.layonara.com/forum-discussion-post-login-problems-here/114584-how-use-calendar-proper-times.html

[Nehetsrev]

Thanks Blackguy for that link.  Now that I've got my own time set up right on the forums though, I'm still noticing that there are many events on the calender that aren't showing the converted times.  Perhaps because not all the DM's are using the features that display them, or know how to use said features.