Calendar event end time - revisited

[bradl]

I'm probably reading this wrong, but it seemed like in this older topic that it was meant to be possible to enter an event with no end time.

While my upcoming events from 34x converted with a singular time as intended all new events and any attempt to edit an existing event forces a spanned event that cannot be undone. I thought this might be a conversion issue but have been informed it's just the way it is. 

I very much wish to be able to have "point in time" events as many events simply do not have a concept of duration or it is actively counterproductive. Forcing an end-time can introduce confusion to participants or burden on organizers of events under several common scenarios we face. Having end times can be awkward, factually wrong and often both. And unnecessarily spanned events bloat what could be a nice compact sidebar widget. 

I'm glad we have the flexibility to have end times and various repeating options, but I would really like to have "point in time" calendar events back. 

[Morrigan]

Are you talking about an all day event? (I'm mobile else this would be full screen) but no end time is already a thing. 

[bradl]

Agreed. That's the alternative. Yet some activities/events/milestones have a time but no duration so all-day is just as inaccurate as a forced span. 

Deadlines are one example. 

Many of our events have a start time but a flexible end time. Meeting starts at 7:00. It's over when it's over.  Eye exams start at 10:00 and are over when everyone's been seen.

Putting an end time obligates organizers to stay until the advertised time no matter what (at least we feel we must).  Conversely, we also have participants who cancel or bail needlessly because the "guesstimate" end time looks like it will occur before they  could get here. 

Small potatoes I guess. Feedback for what it's worth  

 

[Morrigan]

Couldn't this be achieved (for your community) by changing the verbiage to "estimated end time" with a clear indication that it may go long or shorter? It's seems counter intuitive to define something that has a start time to not have an end time. 

All standard calendar apps require that you put an end time. Unless you're more looking for a "reminder" like in the iPhone reminders app. But that's not technically an event or an appointment.

i mean even in your example "eye doctors" appointments have an estimated end time. Normally thirty minutes. While they can go over you are still provided with a window....

[bradl]

A poor example I guess. We're certainly capable of working around the situation.  As feedback, it's just an instance of something that was previously useful in 34x but not presently available. We'd prefer it were.