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SARP Roleplay Timezone Management

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OsakanOne

Inactive Member
Retired Member





My proposal:
  • Make the forums display a set time that isn't for any given time-zone and refer to it as SARP-Time to make our lives easier?

How?

  • I think we could do this by adding a new entry under the available timezones that phpbb can choose from and calling it SST ("SARP Standard Time") and advising that everyone use it.

Example

  • "Yeah, he said he'd be available around 21:00 SST"

    For example, would be something we could all check on the forums and understand "that's X amount of hours away" regardless of where we are in the world, especially because it's working in military time.

    Even if it's EST, it just makes our lives easier and feels a bit less biased towards "just American" users.



Other stuff

  • I'd also like to discuss the idea of making an alternative color theme for StarArmy based on the existing template for those of us who have problems with white on black (dyslexia) so that reading the huge walls of text the RP's "not our" ships produce isn't quite so taxing (I am dyslexic and I think a few other people may be).

    Can we also get the center tag back again? PHPBB has a way of making it work via a tweak.

Thanks for your time
 
ъ(｀―´) I'm Revolver and I approve this proposal.


As for the alternate themes, I would definitely support a solid Black on very light colored or white background theme. I know Osaka has the chops for design, so I'll support his efforts.
 
I think having a Star Army time would be more confusing. I know what time zone those I roleplay with are in, and know how to convert their times to my times. I don't want to have to think about another fake "time zone" that I've got to convert to.

I agree with bringing the
tag back though.​
 
Raz, you don't have to follow it. The "Fake" timezone would basically be EST but instead of converting times, you just say what time you log in.

The alternative fix that could work for GMs is that we get a small clock on our desks and all set it to EST and if not "STT" then it's "Site Time".
 
I think my point is that it'd be ignored and that people can, and have for years, manage without the little, barely noticeable timestamp on the forum.
 
But raz, what's the real negatives to it? It's not going to be mandatory to use it and can be helpful for new people who don't really know timezones.

For instance:

A: What time's the JP?
B: 10:00est
A: Uh... when is that from PST?
B: Just use the time shown on the top of the forums, that's basically est.


Though, I'd be fine having EST (or any timezone, really) placed there and called whatever it actually is instead of the fictional SST. Whatever we do, the designation should definitely be shown after the time. It just says Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:02 pm now but it should say Thu Nov 27, 2008 3:02 pm PST. Just to make sure people know and the less tech minded arn't wondering why it doesn't say the same time as their OS clock.
 
I'm with raz. Possible advantages aside, it's not broke, so don't fix it.

Learn to convert time zones. It's not that hard.

But I'm down with the center tag. That would rock.
 
The truth is that I don't know the timezones other people are in and then I've got to do math for 4 people to work out what the hell's going on and by then I just feel it suddenly "isn't worth the effort".
 
Honestly, I don't even look at the clock on the site. I rarely even look at the timestamps on posts.

Most computers have a clock on the desktop. Bring up the settings, switch it to whatever timezone your buddy is in, and there you go. Just be sure to press "cancel" when you close it, otherwise you'll change your computer's time setting.
 
You can't just ask them for timezones? Why not just say to them, "Hey, what time is it for everyone in EST or UTC?" They can do that easily enough, so you're not doing the work.

I personally like that the page is reflecting my time zone, and that I can view the posts of others based on my time zone, not theirs. Makes it easy for me to understand stuff.
 
Then time shown on the forums (at the top and for every post) is set to YOUR timezone preference, chosen in YOUR profile. If a bunch of players want to get together and all set their timezone to the same thing (SARP Time/EST), that's fine.

I will take your other suggestions into consideration, but don't expect these things immediately. I'm still catching up from visiting my family, and another burst of holidays are approaching.
 
Right but the issue is I don't know what timezone YOU'RE in, just looking at you.

Maybe we should just include this stuff in the location field information.
This is a nice easy fix that you can opt into that requires very little work.
For example, what I've got at the moment in the location field under my avatar.

As for the other stuff, don't worry. I'm not demanding it: Just making sure you know people want these features or procedures.

Happy holidays, btw.
 
And at a glance, I know it's nearly 5pm where you are because it's nearly 1am here when I posted this. The big pain was having to manually ask people whenever I forgot.

Now all I have to do is just look at your profile or a post you've made.

Fantastic.
 
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