• message timezones

    From mark lewis@VERT to digital man on Fri Aug 16 05:23:50 2019
    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that apparently do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the first in an alphabetical list?

    would it be somewhat better to use the BBSes local timezone? or possibly just leave the timezone macro blank (with spaces) if there is no timezone specified in the message?

    is there an option to use four digit numeric timezones like -0400 or 0000 or 1200 instead of alpha designators which may not be unique or clearly understood?

    )\/(ark

    Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set
    them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
    ... SysOp: Gofer in charge of bolts, wires & electricity.
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Digital Man@VERT to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 05:06:15 2019
    Re: message timezones
    By: mark lewis to digital man on Fri Aug 16 2019 09:23 am

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that apparently do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the first in an alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    would it be somewhat better to use the BBSes local timezone? or possibly just leave the timezone macro blank (with spaces) if there is no timezone specified in the message?

    The timezone would be assumed to be UTC, if not specified.

    is there an option to use four digit numeric timezones like -0400 or 0000 or 1200 instead of alpha designators which may not be unique or clearly understood?

    And by "use", you mean display? The alpha designators should be unique and standard. When a timezone is not represented by a standard zone designator, it is printed in numeric form. There's no @-code to force a numeric timezone form.

    digital man

    Synchronet "Real Fact" #43:
    Synchronet added Baja/PCMS support with v2.00a (1994).
    Norco, CA WX: 68.3øF, 82.0% humidity, 0 mph SSW wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From mark lewis@VERT to Digital Man on Fri Aug 16 08:26:16 2019
    Re: message timezones
    By: Digital Man to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 2019 09:06:15

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that apparently
    do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the first in an
    alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    ok...

    would it be somewhat better to use the BBSes local timezone? or possibly
    just leave the timezone macro blank (with spaces) if there is no timezone specified in the message?

    The timezone would be assumed to be UTC, if not specified.

    ok... in my new message headers, i'm seeing them as AST but i'm not really sure
    if there's a timezone control line in those messages or not... i do know that the postings i've been seeing this do originate in north america...

    is there an option to use four digit numeric timezones like -0400 or 0000
    or 1200 instead of alpha designators which may not be unique or clearly understood?

    And by "use", you mean display? The alpha designators should be unique and
    standard. When a timezone is not represented by a standard zone designator, it
    is printed in numeric form. There's no @-code to force a numeric
    timezone form.

    yeah, i was thinking of using -0500 instead of EST/CDT...


    )\/(ark
    --- SBBSecho 3.08-Linux
    * Origin: SouthEast Star Mail HUB - SESTAR (1:3634/12)
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Digital Man@VERT to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 09:48:23 2019
    Re: message timezones
    By: mark lewis to Digital Man on Fri Aug 16 2019 12:26 pm

    Re: message timezones
    By: Digital Man to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 2019 09:06:15

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that apparently
    do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the first in an
    alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    ok...

    would it be somewhat better to use the BBSes local timezone? or possibly
    just leave the timezone macro blank (with spaces) if there is no timezone specified in the message?

    The timezone would be assumed to be UTC, if not specified.

    ok... in my new message headers, i'm seeing them as AST but i'm not really sure if there's a timezone control line in those messages or not... i do know that the postings i've been seeing this do originate in north america...

    AST is Atlantic Standard Time, -0400.

    is there an option to use four digit numeric timezones like -0400 or 0000
    or 1200 instead of alpha designators which may not be unique or clearly understood?

    And by "use", you mean display? The alpha designators should be unique and
    standard. When a timezone is not represented by a standard zone designator, it is printed in numeric form. There's no @-code to force a numeric
    timezone form.

    yeah, i was thinking of using -0500 instead of EST/CDT...

    When exported into FidoNet, it would be as -0500. FTN standards don't support named timezones.

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #82:
    XOFF = Transmit Off (ASCII 19, Ctrl-S)
    Norco, CA WX: 89.7øF, 37.0% humidity, 7 mph E wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Digital Man@VERT to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 10:10:03 2019
    Re: message timezones
    By: Digital Man to mark lewis on Fri Aug 16 2019 09:06 am

    Re: message timezones
    By: mark lewis to digital man on Fri Aug 16 2019 09:23 am

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that apparently do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the first in an alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    Is it possible the time sonze information *was* included in the imported message and it was -0400 (which happens to correlate with Atlantic Standard Time, AST)? I know -0400 is *also* EDT, which would be more correct at this time of year. So I've just removed that whole mapping of UTC offsets to US timezones from SBBSecho. Let me know if it is now behaving as you expect, or not.

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #31:
    FTP = File Transfer Protocol
    Norco, CA WX: 88.9øF, 37.0% humidity, 14 mph ESE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From mark lewis@VERT to Digital Man on Sat Aug 17 18:37:46 2019
    On 2019 Aug 16 14:10:02, you wrote to me:

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that
    apparently do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default
    to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the
    first in an alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    Is it possible the time sonze information *was* included in the imported message and it was -0400 (which happens to correlate with Atlantic
    Standard
    Time, AST)? I know -0400 is *also* EDT, which would be more correct at
    this
    time of year. So I've just removed that whole mapping of UTC offsets to US timezones from SBBSecho. Let me know if it is now behaving as you expect, or not.

    i'll have to update and see what happens... for now, though, i have a message i
    wrote in the BINKD echo as an example... i wrote it on 2019 Jul 4 on this point
    system... the BBS is in a VM on this same system so the time and date are exactly the same... here's what sbbs shows for the message in question...

    Sender mark lewis
    To Richard Menedetter
    Subject binkd error
    X-FTN-AREA BINKD
    X-FTN-REPLY 2:310/31 5d1dfc78
    X-FTN-MSGID 1:3634/12.73 5d1e344e
    X-FTN-PID GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    X-FTN-Kludge CHRS: CP437 2
    X-FTN-TID hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 07-09-15
    X-FTN-SEEN-BY 3634/12
    X-FTN-PATH 3634/12
    SenderNetType FidoNet
    SenderNetAddr 01 00 32 0E 0C 00 49 00
    Message-ID <5D1E3539.302.fido-binkd@sestar.synchro.net>
    In-Reply-To <5D1DFCB2.300.fido-binkd@sestar.synchro.net>
    when_written 5D1E340E 40F0 Thu Jul 04 2019 13:14:54 AST
    when_imported 5D1E3539 C12C Thu Jul 04 2019 13:19:53 EDT
    type 0000h
    version 0121h
    attr 0000h
    auxattr 00000000h
    netattr 00000000h
    header offset 044620h
    header length 406
    number 302
    thread_id 290
    thread_back 300
    data offset 092100h
    data field[0] TEXT_BODY, offset 0, length 1066
    data field[1] TEXT_TAIL, offset 1066, length 33

    the actual control lines i see in golded are

    @REPLY: 2:310/31 5d1dfc78
    @MSGID: 1:3634/12.73 5d1e344e
    @PID: GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    @CHRS: CP437 2
    @TZUTC: -0400

    i'll get updated and see what happens... i'm guessing old messages won't be affected by the update but new ones will be?

    )\/(ark

    Once men turned their thinking over to machines in the hope that this would set
    them free. But that only permitted other men with machines to enslave them.
    ... You're not lost if ya don't care where you are!
    ---
    * Origin: (1:3634/12.73)
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net
  • From Digital Man@VERT to mark lewis on Sat Aug 17 17:50:51 2019
    Re: message timezones
    By: mark lewis to Digital Man on Sat Aug 17 2019 10:37 pm


    On 2019 Aug 16 14:10:02, you wrote to me:

    speaking of message timezones, i've noticed that messages that
    apparently do not have a timezone control line in them seem to default
    to AST... is that Australian Standard Time? it is because it is the
    first in an alphabetical list?

    No, that just sounds like a bug.

    Is it possible the time sonze information *was* included in the imported message and it was -0400 (which happens to correlate with Atlantic
    Standard
    Time, AST)? I know -0400 is *also* EDT, which would be more correct at
    this
    time of year. So I've just removed that whole mapping of UTC offsets to US timezones from SBBSecho. Let me know if it is now behaving as you expect, or not.

    i'll have to update and see what happens... for now, though, i have a message i wrote in the BINKD echo as an example... i wrote it on 2019 Jul 4 on this point system... the BBS is in a VM on this same system so the time and date are exactly the same... here's what sbbs shows for the message in question...

    Sender mark lewis
    To Richard Menedetter
    Subject binkd error
    X-FTN-AREA BINKD
    X-FTN-REPLY 2:310/31 5d1dfc78
    X-FTN-MSGID 1:3634/12.73 5d1e344e
    X-FTN-PID GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    X-FTN-Kludge CHRS: CP437 2
    X-FTN-TID hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 07-09-15
    X-FTN-SEEN-BY 3634/12
    X-FTN-PATH 3634/12
    SenderNetType FidoNet
    SenderNetAddr 01 00 32 0E 0C 00 49 00
    Message-ID <5D1E3539.302.fido-binkd@sestar.synchro.net>
    In-Reply-To <5D1DFCB2.300.fido-binkd@sestar.synchro.net>
    when_written 5D1E340E 40F0 Thu Jul 04 2019 13:14:54 AST
    when_imported 5D1E3539 C12C Thu Jul 04 2019 13:19:53 EDT
    type 0000h
    version 0121h
    attr 0000h
    auxattr 00000000h
    netattr 00000000h
    header offset 044620h
    header length 406
    number 302
    thread_id 290
    thread_back 300
    data offset 092100h
    data field[0] TEXT_BODY, offset 0, length 1066
    data field[1] TEXT_TAIL, offset 1066, length 33

    the actual control lines i see in golded are

    @REPLY: 2:310/31 5d1dfc78
    @MSGID: 1:3634/12.73 5d1e344e
    @PID: GED+LNX 1.1.5-b20180707
    @CHRS: CP437 2
    @TZUTC: -0400

    i'll get updated and see what happens... i'm guessing old messages won't be affected by the update but new ones will be?

    Right, at -0400 is Atlantic Standard Time. It's also Easter Daylight Time, so rather than guess based on the date range, etc., I just removed the US-timezone support from SBBSecho. FTN doesn't really provide that detail, so we'll just go with UTC offsets. <shrug>

    digital man

    Synchronet/BBS Terminology Definition #43:
    JS = JavaScript
    Norco, CA WX: 64.5øF, 84.0% humidity, 0 mph SE wind, 0.00 inches rain/24hrs

    ---
    þ Synchronet þ Vertrauen þ Home of Synchronet þ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net