Sonya* Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) Our users complain about relative dates again and again. The main issue they have: they do not want to calculate how many hours ago is yesterday. They would like to differ between posts made today and yesterday. So they need clean statement today, 11:23 or yesterday, 23:43. At the moment if they see something like 19 hours ago they must work out if today is already longer as 19 hours then the post is from today. Otherwise from yesterday. A lot of our users wish to see what content has been published "TODAY". Can you please consider to change the logic of f_hours and f_hours_short to figure out whether the post has been made today or yesterday and print out the words instead of X hours ago? Edited November 9, 2019 by Sonya* CoffeeCake, Millipede, Angel Costa and 1 other 4
Jim M Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Curious, why does it matter if it was today or yesterday? Typically within 24 hours, I would just see as recent postings. Whether it was made today or yesterday really is irrelevant. They can also hover over the time string and get the actual date and time of the post. Not helpful on mobile but an option.
Sonya* Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 Just now, Jim M said: Curious, why does it matter if it was today or yesterday? I do not know. But we have these complaints since we moved to 4.X a year(!) ago. They ask for it again and again. And there is always the same: 19 hours ago? I do not like to calculate what time it was. "Unfortunately" we have over 70% mobile users
TDBF Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 Just now, Jim M said: Curious, why does it matter if it was today or yesterday? Typically within 24 hours, I would just see as recent postings. Whether it was made today or yesterday really is irrelevant. They can also hover over the time string and get the actual date and time of the post. Not helpful on mobile but an option. I personally would like an option an option to show the actual date on an article as opposed to the 'today/yesterday' especially with CMS articles. I would also like the DATETIME functions to be able to display dates before the year 1900 rather than having to use a Textbox for dates.
Sonya* Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 12 minutes ago, Jim M said: Whether it was made today or yesterday really is irrelevant. I have asked and they say they want to see clear post time, e. g. 8:00 or 9:00 and they do not want to calculate what time was 7 hours ago. They are all women, if it relevant TDBF 1
Jim M Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 1 minute ago, Sonya* said: I have asked and they say they want to see clear post time, e. g. 8:00 or 9:00 and they do not want to calculate what time was 7 hours ago. They are all women, if it relevant Resists making a joke... What is the use case for knowing the exact time? Guess that's a better way to phrase the question. Sonya* 1
opentype Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) I would dig deeper and continue asking. Just saying they want a specific time doesn’t explain the reasons. The reason would matter though to decide if I would want to take actions. Maybe it’s just a matter of “that’s how we are used to it”, which wouldn’t mean much to me. Or they somehow don’t use the “read markers” properly and want to judge from the time whether they have read the post already yesterday or something like that. Could be anything. It’s easy to make the case for relative time, especially online where people could be scattered across the globe, even on non-English communities. So having that as a default makes perfect sense. They would need extremely good reasons to have their system be better and worth setting as a default. Edited November 9, 2019 by opentype Jim M 1
TDBF Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 4 minutes ago, Jim M said: Resists making a joke... What is the use case for knowing the exact time? Guess that's a better way to phrase the question. Submitted: 11 hours ago (But I only have 10 fingers! and is that from UTC or GMT time?), Submitted: Yesterday (When exactly yesterday? 9am, 9pm or 12:30 or 14:43 23:58? ), Submitted: Today (When exactly today? See above!), Submitted: 09 November 2019 at 3:45pm (No need to work the date and time because it is there for all to see). For some people, Today and Yesterday have no meaning at all and they do not want to work it out out either. Having the date shown as the 4th option is straight forward and easy for our members to visualise when a post was submitted, without having to resort to mathematics. Millipede 1
Sonya* Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 2 minutes ago, opentype said: Maybe it’s just a matter of “that’s how we are used to it” Sure. Also this. This was how 3.X had displayed the dates. I have ignored the complaints for one year. But now, we have moved a year ago, it is starting to get annoying to hear it again and again. 4 minutes ago, opentype said: Or they somehow don’t use the “read markers” properly Or, they do. Believe me. I have installed every plugin that restores the "unread" functionality from 3.X They need it really. It is a very busy community. They are creating content without pause. As already said, they are women and they like to talk. I guess the only reason is: we really want to see the time when it was posted. Whether at 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 o'clock today. They want to see this time afternoon and not to calculate back what time was exactly as the post has been made. That's all. Just be able to see the time. 8 minutes ago, opentype said: It’s easy to make the case for relative time This is not about relative time in general. They are happy with X minutes ago (there is no so much to calculate). And they are happy with yesterday, 11:23. The whole complaints are only against X hours ago. TDBF 1
opentype Posted November 9, 2019 Posted November 9, 2019 5 minutes ago, TDBF said: Submitted: 11 hours ago (But I only have 10 fingers! and is that from UTC or GMT time?), As a joke, this is really funny. 3 minutes ago, Sonya* said: I guess the only reason is: we really want to see the time when it was posted. Whether at 8:00, 9:00 or 10:00 o'clock today. They want to see this time afternoon and not to calculate back what time was exactly as the post has been made. That's all. Just be able to see the time. We are going in circles. Describing WHAT one wants is not a description of the WHY someone wants this. It keeps coming back to “having to figure out the specific time”. Fine! Now why do you need that information, user? 😉 There must be a reason. (Not that I have a horse in this race arguing for or against how IPS or your site should handle this. I’m just making a logical point. Not wanting to drag this out. Sorry.)
Sonya* Posted November 9, 2019 Author Posted November 9, 2019 (edited) 27 minutes ago, opentype said: WHY someone wants this It is obvious for me. It is like my phone, when there is missed call I want to see when this call was. Exactly the time. I do not want to know if it was 3 or 5 hours ago. I cannot explain, why I would like to see the time there. Just because I am used to think "in time" and not in "hours ago". On this community it is sometimes important to see if the post has been made early in the morning or afternoon. Saying X hours ago forces me to calculate what the posting time exactly was. It is easier for me to say what I have done at 3:00 PM as what i have done 9 hours ago. Edited November 9, 2019 by Sonya* Cyboman, Greek76 and Millipede 3
TheWorldNewsMedia.org Posted November 10, 2019 Posted November 10, 2019 @Sonya* I learned a long time ago to never argue against women. The Princess Bride movie taught us all to just say: "As you wish" Sonya* 1
Rhett Posted November 10, 2019 Posted November 10, 2019 Just in case you didn't notice, users can hover over the time to get the exact date and time to display if needed. Maxxius 1
Sonya* Posted November 10, 2019 Author Posted November 10, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, Rhett said: Just in case you didn't notice, users can hover over the time to get the exact date and time to display if needed. Not on mobile 😞 I've given up. I have told to them: look, this suite is developed by men for men, they cannot understand how difficult it is to calculate for us. Live with it. Edited November 10, 2019 by Sonya* TDBF, Millipede, Hexsplosions and 3 others 3 1 2
bfarber Posted November 11, 2019 Posted November 11, 2019 Facebook behaves the same - does this concern with your site carry over there, out of curiosity? I, personally, don't have much preference. I suppose an option could be introduced to shut off relative dates/times if this is a "thing", but I can't recall this really coming up much in the past and the software has behaved this way for years.
Sonya* Posted November 11, 2019 Author Posted November 11, 2019 5 minutes ago, bfarber said: Facebook behaves the same I do not really use Facebook. I use communities 6 minutes ago, bfarber said: the software has behaved this way for years In 3.X there was difference between today/yesterday. That's why they want it back. I will hook into html function of the Date to change it for my girls Millipede 1
TDBF Posted November 11, 2019 Posted November 11, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, bfarber said: Facebook behaves the same - does this concern with your site carry over there, out of curiosity? I, personally, don't have much preference. I suppose an option could be introduced to shut off relative dates/times if this is a "thing", but I can't recall this really coming up much in the past and the software has behaved this way for years. I seriously do not see the objection or unwillingness to entertain this slight change? Honestly, you would think we were asking you to re-invite the wheel using mathematics which hasn't been invented yet and colouring it a nice shade of pink in the process. Edited November 11, 2019 by TDBF CoffeeCake, Greek76 and Millipede 2 1
bfarber Posted November 11, 2019 Posted November 11, 2019 We don't implement every single suggestion ever submitted, particularly when only one client has ever requested it. It's not an objection or unwillingness, but rather an attempt to gauge the request and how relevant or important it is, in the context of everything else we have going on, and also to see if it's something widely needed or desired, or just something one person wants for their own reasons. DawPi 1
TDBF Posted November 11, 2019 Posted November 11, 2019 1 minute ago, bfarber said: particularly when only one client has ever requested it. But but...... there were two of us! 😭😝 I use Pages a lot on my site, and I have had to modify the date code to prevent today, yesterday and ** hours ago to display the actual Date and Time they were published. I have never used these formats for articles types and never will. However, I have no issues for this use on the forums.
Chippy365 Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 We've also had a number of requests for it from users in our community. I could have sworn it was once a feature. It's a community that has moved from PHPBB to IPB, for what it's worth. While I can mention the hover-over option, it's not possible on mobile as far as I know so I think giving admins the option is better. Alternatively, allow it to be an option that can be configured in the UserCP, as it is ultimately a personal preference. CoffeeCake 1
Jordan Miller Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 On 11/9/2019 at 9:48 AM, Sonya* said: They are all women, if it relevant
CoffeeCake Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 I will share that this has come up at well, in our predominantly mobile, high traffic, website. Unfortunately hover events aren't supported on mobile. I'd like to give members the option to toggle between relative and actual time. And I'm a bit sad to see the misogynistic comments. Jordan Miller 1
Morrigan Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 I'd say get a plugin from someone. I prefer relative times. I don't need exact times, in fact exact times are more frustrating to me IMHO because then I have to do the calculating myself. Who in the hell wants to do that? Overall, Relative times are preferable, they are more media-centric (which people have been asking for, for years on IPS) and overall more dummy proof.
Chippy365 Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 1 hour ago, Morrigan said: I'd say get a plugin from someone. I prefer relative times. I don't need exact times, in fact exact times are more frustrating to me IMHO because then I have to do the calculating myself. Who in the hell wants to do that? Overall, Relative times are preferable, they are more media-centric (which people have been asking for, for years on IPS) and overall more dummy proof. It's clearly a very subjective choice. Why not just allow it as an option in the account settings, and then allow the administrator to determine which one is the default? It shouldn't require a lot of code because the forum already prints out both ways (with the exact time being shown if you hover over the relative time). For a use case - the forum I administrate is a football forum and users often want to look inside one of the match threads to see the reactions of other forummers at the time a goal was scored, or some other controversy took place. They can do this easily with non-relative times because everyone knows the kickoff time, and the time the goal was scored or when the controversy took place. It's utterly useless to have a relative time for that use case, and hovering over each one is more time consuming then a single glance.
abobader Posted June 21, 2020 Posted June 21, 2020 Same thing here, our members want the time .... back! Why it should be a plugin? Why not an option at the ACP, hover do not work on mobile users. Funny as I submit a ticket about this, now I see this thread and my hope goes down.
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