It said...



Edit: Okay, just deleted every single cookie in my browser manually to make sure it didn't miss anything, except for things like my gmail and other websites I frequent and KNOW have nothing to do with RPoL. Tested with the links again, and the same results.

If we can't figure this out, jase, it's not that big of a problem (to me), since I seem to be the only one seeing it; it just weirded me out the first time I noticed it.
This message was last edited by the user at 03:18, Sun 21 Dec 2008.

Log out of RPoL completely - then delete the RPoL cookies again  - then log in  again.


If you are logged your computer can hold some of the cookie data 'ready to use' so deleting the cookies alone doesn't always do it :)

It doesn't look like a cookie issue so much as a computer-set-to-the-wrong-day-and-time issue.  When you hold your mouse over Windows's time clock at the lower right -- or double click it and examine it.  It is probably off.

The other place to check, to be certain, is in your Bios.  When you start your computer, it should go through a screen where you can (for example) hit "del" to enter setup.  The time there needs to be set correctly for your computer to have the right time and, thus, for RPoL to display the proper time.

*lol* I have Linux, cru. =P

But my display on my computer currently says Sunday, Dec 21, 12:08PM, which concurs with my watch, and I'm still noticing the problem. And Linux runs concurrent with the BIOS, so as to take up less memory, so the system clock would match the BIOS.

John -- Y'know, you're probably right. I forgot about my sticky list in the background when I did it before. I'll give it another shot, then report back with a post edit.

Edit: Nope. Still doing it. >.>
This message was last edited by the user at 18:14, Sun 21 Dec 2008.

It's not RPoL, the w3schools link exhibited the same issue.  I'd say it's something to do with Linux, Javascript, or both.

As usual I'm right.  (c;  A quick google search has revealed this;

https://bugs.launchpad.net/firefox/+bug/242926

In summary; "Dates returned from JavaScript are offset by 24+ hours when using 'America/Caracas' timezone".

I believe your timezone should be -6 but it's showing +18, that's precisely the problem describe in the above bug note.  From reading the user comments it's a problem that's not limited to the one timezone either.

It doesn't help us solve your problem, but it's a start, I guess..

Hey, it's better than nothing, and definitely better than what I'd found. I don't frequent a lot of forum sites other than this, so in my ignorance I assumed...

And we all know where that leads...

I'll... just slink away into the darkness and keep an eye on that bug report... Thanks, jase.

-_-

Okay, now I feel like a complete idiot...

I received my copy of the new release of Ubuntu today via mail, and played around with the settings in it for a while, getting a feel for it and reporting any bugs I found to Launchpad...

ANYWAY!

I figured out in Intrepid how to set the system clock, then select a time zone. As it turns out, if you just set the system clock to your time instead of GMT, the system (of course) thinks what you set is GMT, not necessarily local time.

So... when I got back into Hardy, I tried setting up the system clock as I had in Intrepid, and now not only can I change time zones with a few clicks, I've fixed the problem I originally reported here.

*epic facepalm*

Now to report this solution to Launchpad and then crawl into a hole and hide somewhere until 2009, when maybe I won't be so stupid as to overlook something like that... >.> And, since this has apparently been the case since I switched to Ubuntu, maybe I can figure out why it took me six months to notice the date difference. It had to be there before.

21:35, Today: ashlayne rolled 1 using 1d20.

Yep, just as I thought. Critical failure on my Notice roll. <.<

Is it sad that it took the new distro of Ubuntu to show me how to fix a problem in my current distro??

Meh. Buy a mac* ;-)

*Disclaimer, elSpike works for apple

I realise it's probably already been mentioned once or thrice, but Zulu Time aka Grenwick Mean Time showing somewhere, say next to the "main menu" link, would be nice. Wouldn't have to stay totally current, or even exact (to the minute would be more than enough), just update each time a page loads....

It would save a lot of confusion (especially OOC) as a player could simply refer to that for RL related events.

Eg: "I'll be away until 11am Grenwich" rather than the far more common (at the moment) "be gone until 8pm", which obviously means nothing to those not in the same time zone. Probably means nothing to those actually in the same zone too if they don't know it.

Hrm. The only place that could possibly fit within a game is in the space between the first and second lines of the header, and I suspect that space is taken for RPoL mods.

However, there's a nice blank spot on the main menu header's bottom right, under the date. Maybe the time could go there?
This message was last edited by the user at 06:45, Mon 09 Feb 2009.

Displaying the current Zulu Time would provide a common frame of reference, yes...but in the case of the example cited, players would still have to figure out what their local time would end up being at GMT to phrase the announcement effectively.  I don't see how a display of current time will really help facilitate a future time estimate...maybe it's just late and I'm tired and loopy on cold medicine, but the onus of stating the time (and time zone) still falls on the player...

No, not at all - virtually no calculations required (at least no more than you'd do in normal everyday conversation).

EVERYBODY would see the same time - Zulu (give or take a few minutes depending when they last refreshed the page). It'd be a simple matter of flicking your gaze to wherever the time was displayed and typing that. Of course if you were wanting to say 1pm local time and it was currently 8am local, just add 5 hours to whatever the zulu time was displaying.

The actual post time stamps (20:42 for Facemakers by my view) stay exactly the way they are. "Zulu time" is a simply link to the Grenwick observatory (or somewhere else hosting the time) which updates only when the page is refreshed. Shouldn't create much of a load I would imagine.

If you really need people to know about when you're really going to be back, you can just post it the relative time.  Like, if you're leaving for work, you could say, "I'll be back in nine hours!"

Then, since your post displays its time according to every individual reader's correct timezone, everybody will know when that nine hours actually started, and therefor when it will presumably end.

Thanks, Utsukushi...once again, someone comes along after me and sums up very clearly what I managed to ramble for a few paragraphs without clarifying.  *grin*

Sure you could (and it's what I tend to do most of the time now anyway) but how many actually DO?

And what if it's three days down the track? With most games including players from both sides of the date line, posting, say, "Wednesday", can be just as confusing. If it was made easy to post "Wednesday, 9am Zulu/Grenwich" without having to carry out mental acrobatics... (look at current Z time, add on how long, and post.)

Yes, I know you could easily refer to another site and get the time off there, but how much easier is it to have it showing here somewhere? The simpler and easier something is, the more likely it will be used.

Anyway, it's just a suggestion and up to Jase to decide yay or nay. I know I've managed on rpol for the past seven years or so without it, but damn it would have been useful on many occasions.

I dunno about you, but that IS mental acrobatics, for me to add-subtract-whatever to find the right time.

If something's time sensitive, I would say "I'll be back in X hours and Y minutes," or even give a specific time with my timezone "I'll be back at Xpm est"

I have *yet* to come across a situation where I've *needed* to tell someone what time I'd be back, though, let alone where it's been misunderstood. No need for this at all, it's just a resource/coding hog.

If it is going to be a few  days - is the precise time really relevant?

Normally I just say something like

"Away for three days" or "Away for a bit, back at the end of the week" and surprisingly most people manage to understand that.

Anyway - why complicate it with  Zulu time?  Why not just say GMT is that is what you mean :)

Because as an old solider, it's how I think...   ;)

Once again, how many people has anyone seen post x days and y hours?
Isn't it far, far more common to hear "midday Thursday"?

With 24 different times zones (not including the various variations individual countries and regions make), the possibility, no, certainty of confusion is obvious. With one single time showing in a currently unused "corner" of the page, this certainty can be reduced to a mere vague possibility.

It's only confusing (or important) if you let it be.

So a bit of simple maths.  Just like, say, if I was at GMT+9 (which I am at the moment) and I was going to be back at 10am, I'd say 01:00 GMT.  (c;  Simple maths.  10-9.

Except that doesn't require a spot for GMT time on the main menu (and the location you suggested isn't always blank).


In fact, that seems easier than if I was playing at midnight and thinking I'd be back in 10 hours.  I'd then go to the main menu, find the GMT time (15:00) add 10 to it (25:00).. figure out that's not a real time, trim off 24 hours and come to 01:00.  Then back to the game to post when I'd be back.

That presumes everyone knows what time zone they're in - believe me, many haven't a clue, or if they do, they presume everybody else is in the same zone.  :S

As for where something like that would go, well, I don't think it matters all that much does it? Anywhere there is a space - top right, bottom left, centre of the page, wherever it fits...
Even on the sticky list would do.

Remember, it's suggested as only a guide. Exact time isn't important, just general time to say within half an hour. That I think should be relatively easy to accomplish especially if it was incorporated into the sticky (just one more place for it to grab info from when it updates itself).

I've never had a problem by listing time in GMT. Also, I'm sure people who don't recognize the acronym will look it up; especially if I write it out fully for emphasis.

Well consider the lack of GMT time on the main menu my way of getting people to look past their noses.  (c;

I'm sure these people are also the ones who wouldn't know what to do with GMT/Zulu time.


I'd rather just have "(GMT+9)" (or whatever their TZ is) after the date on the main menu.  No new section required and no confusing second date and time on the page.

You don't have to know what zone you're in to just say how long you're going to be gone, in the cases where people really need to know that closely.  And "Back in five!" is a whole lot easier on everybody than, "Back at...OK, let me see, that'll be eight o'clock my time, so that's...fifteen, but not everybody does 24-hour time, so...3 PM, GMT!"  And then everybody else has to go and back-figure it to their own zones.  With "Back in five!", nobody even has to know where in the world they are.  You could blindfold me, fly me anywhere in the world, and I could still estimate a relative return time.  (But, er, don't.  People would come looking for me.  Honest, they would.)

I'll agree that not everybody thinks of it all the time, but I can hardly imagine that somebody's not going to think of that, yet take the time to look up their timezone, find the GMT-time even if it's on the main menu, and figure out what their return time is relative to that.

So, happily, I don't even have to look past my nose for this.  But, er, Jase?  What's wrong with my nose?  Is there a smudge, or something?

I like this idea. :D Just a simple GMT + (0R -) TZ on the Main Menu would be appreciated. :D