FAQ: The time is wrong but my timezone is right !

[Sim]

This is most likely a daylight savings problem.

For those of us who live in a state where Daylight Savings Time is not observed (ie. QLD, NT, WA) - and anyone who lives in the northern hemisphere where daylight savings time is in force during a different time period - you will need to make an adjustment to your vBulletin settings to get the time right on the forum.

This applies during the time that daylight savings is in force in Sydney - usually from the last weekend in October to the last weekend in March (I think).

The servers that run the forum automatically adjust themselves for DST in the eastern states of Australia - so the time is going to be wrong for anyone not observing DST at the same time as us.

You are going to need to go into the user control panel ("user cp" at the top of the page), go to the "edit options" page, then scroll down to the "date and time options".

You should set the "time offset" back 1 hour from your normal time zone !

For example, if you are in WA (GMT +8), you should edit your time offset and set it to GMT +7 (which corresponds to Bangkok, Hanoi and Jakarta). This will now give you the correct time on the forum.

QLD users who are normally on GMT+10 should set theirs to GMT+9 (Tokyo, Seoul, etc).

NT users have a problem - since you are normally GMT+9.5, there is no GMT+8.5 option in the list. I suggest you leave it as is, and adjust the time in your heads by an hour - it should be easier than adjusting it by a half hour in your heads !

If you have problems, use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of the page to send us an email.

 

[Mike]

Hi Sim,

London came off daylight saving as Sydney went on. Before the change the time difference was 9 hours. Now the time difference is 11 hours. Yet the forum time setting for me to get 11 hour difference is GMT +10 hours. Does that mean London is GMT minus one hour? According to the time options, London is on GMT.

Regards, Mike

 

[Sim]

Hi Mike, no London is really at GMT ... the problem arises with the fact that the server here has changed it's time to DST.

Ideally, I'd move the vBulletin software timezone to GMT+11 to match... but that would also mean making most of our users (ie. those in Australia currently in DST) also change their timezones to GMT+11 ... which I don't want to do. The reason all these problems arise is because the vBulletin software has no concept of daylight savings time (yet) - this is something that they have promised for v3.

So to sacrifice the needs of the few for the needs of the many, I decided that everyone not currently on DST (hopefully the minority) should adjust their timezones BACK one hour to compensate.

So in London, the timezone should be set to GMT-1 until we finish daylight savings here in Aus. The two hour jump you experienced is correct - you were 9 hours behind and now you are 11 hours behind.

Sorry for the hassle !

 

[Mike]

So in London, the timezone should be set to GMT-1 until we finish daylight savings here in Aus. - Sim

Sim if I set the timezone on this forum at GMT -1 I get the forum time matching London local time which I don't want. The byproduct of this is the way it effects the calendar. For example, it is Saturday 4pm local London time as I type. Due to the 11 hour difference I know it is Sunday 3am Sydney time. If I set the timezone to GMT +10 hours the forum Calendar highlights Sunday Nov 3rd as being the current day in Sydney. However, if I adjust the timezone to GMT -1 then the forum time matches London local time and the forum Calendar highlights Saturday Nov 2nd as the current day in Sydney which is incorrect. So people in London must set the timezone to GMT +10 hours to see the correct day and time in Sydney.

Regards, Mike

 

[Sim]

Absolutely... if you want to run your view of the forum on Sydney time, then you must set your timezone to GMT+10 (even in daylight savings time).

The idea of the timezone settings is that you can have the time on the forum match your local time, but if you want to match the Sydney time instead - go for it.