Time Entry

The general format for entering a timestamp looks like this:
    MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS

However, there are a few rules we have added to make it easier for people to specify a timestamp.

All of these below are valid:

The server can calculate a timestamp using any of the above, and will use the current time zone.

Time Zones

Internally most computers keep track of time by counting seconds since an arbitrary start date, known as the epoch. So any particular timestamp is really just a big number, the count of seconds since the epoch. This allows us to uniquely identify any time from 1970 up through 2038.

There are lots of reasons for keeping track of time this way, however, people want to see local time, and that means we need to specify a time zone.

Since the server is in Sunnyvale, California, by default the website will show timestamps in Pacific time.

But that's just the default, the website will use any timezone you want. You can set the timezone by going to one of the time zone pages and clicking on Set Time Zone. If you are logged in it will record the timezone as part of your account, where it will remain until you change it.

If you are not logged it it will set a session variable. That will last for a week. Or until you delete your cookies. You can change your timezone as often as you like.

United States

Europe