it was definitely jan ??, 13
```
I think that the date formats, even for English, should be changed to DD Mmm (so 13 Jan) and Mmm 'YY (the current, so Feb '13). This way, they are visually different.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 5:50am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/2 "2014-03-11T05:50:31Z")
You are cherry picking a bit with the example, it is not common to see those two forms next to each other.
I don’t mind the day-first form, e.g. 13 Feb and Feb 13 are about the same to me. So if choosing one over the other makes the display clearer in this somewhat rare case that’s fine.
---
### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/3 "2014-03-11T08:59:09Z")
I had this problem too:
> [@Year should be added to post date at some point](https://meta.discourse.org/t/year-should-be-added-to-post-date-at-some-point/12716):
>
> I can see why you wouldn’t think of this until [a year in](https://meta.discourse.org/t/one-year-of-discourse/12710), but now the problem is obvious. I just ran into a post from February 2013, but looking at the date I first thought “oh, this is super recent, how did I miss it?”
I would strongly prefer it if we just spelled it out completely. `13. Jan` and `Feb 2013`
At the very least I hope this’ll be readily available in the settings somewhere.
---
### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 9:05am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/4 "2014-03-11T09:05:37Z")
Seriously? 2013? The century has to be in there? The part that’s going to be the same for a _hundred years?_ 😉
I certainly hope Discourse is still relevant in 2100!
---
### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 9:16am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/5 "2014-03-11T09:16:29Z")
It’s a prefix of `20` to express `year` as opposed to `'`. It’s a 1 character difference, and it leaves no room for confusion. It doesn’t have to be default, but I’d certainly want a setting for it to appease my European sensibilities.
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 9:28am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/6 "2014-03-11T09:28:33Z")
Nah, I just tried it out by editing the fields (couldn’t get a screenshot, they reverted before I was done).
It’s too repetitive. And it’s really adding 2 full letter-glyphs per date, not 1 - the `'` isn’t much of a glyph visually, and that’s why I was asking for this change.
---
### Author:  [@erlend\_sh](https://meta.discourse.org/u/erlend_sh)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 9:57am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/7 "2014-03-11T09:57:19Z")
Mjeh you have a point. But can we at least add a period after the month for posterity?
`13. Feb` `Feb '13`
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 10:17am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/8 "2014-03-11T10:17:16Z")
Eh, the dot isn’t common in English-speaking regions: [Calendar date - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calendar_date#Gregorian.2C_day-month-year)
> “8 November 2003” or “8. November 2003” (the latter is common in German-speaking regions)
And I’ve never seen it used before this.
---
### Author:  [@riking](https://meta.discourse.org/u/riking)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 10:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/9 "2014-03-11T10:29:36Z")
Made a PR, because nobody’s complained loudly yet and I’m bored:
[https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/2107](https://github.com/discourse/discourse/pull/2107)
Included the dot for German.
---
### Author:  [@fantasticfears](https://meta.discourse.org/u/fantasticfears)
#### Post date: [March 11, 2014, 3:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/10 "2014-03-11T15:24:11Z")
I hope I could reply some time earlier…
For Chinese, we are only accustomed to Mmm DD format. Eh, exactly, it should always be M月D日.
Or YYYY-MM-DD format, I assume this is because Discuz is popular among PRC.
Anyway, I’d like take care of it for Chinese.
---
### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 3:50pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/12 "2015-05-26T15:50:22Z")
If only there were some type of [international standard for date formats](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601) “to avoid misinterpretation of numeric representations of dates and times, particularly when data are transferred between countries with different conventions for writing numeric dates and times” …
---
### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/13 "2015-05-26T16:03:57Z")
I’ve **never** _ever_ seen a date formatted like this though: **2015-W22**.
---
### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:05pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/14 "2015-05-26T16:05:06Z")
Well, the only people I know that really think in terms of weeks rather than dates are project managers, and I try to keep my distance from them. 😉
Most of us mortals use **2015-05-26**.
---
### Author:  [@zogstrip](https://meta.discourse.org/u/zogstrip)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:06pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/15 "2015-05-26T16:06:15Z")
Yeah but this kind of dates are hard to parse for _hoomans_.
**May 2015** is far easier to read that **2015-05**.
---
### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/16 "2015-05-26T16:08:37Z")
> [@zogstrip](#):
>
> May 2015 is far easier to read
… if you read English.
---
### Author:  [@cpradio](https://meta.discourse.org/u/cpradio)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/17 "2015-05-26T16:10:23Z")
I prefer to see it in base2, personally. 😉
11111011111-101
---
### Author:  [@downey](https://meta.discourse.org/u/downey)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/18 "2015-05-26T16:13:11Z")
I think the point here is that just as it’s important to localize vocabulary and syntax for words, it’s also important to do one of these:
1. Localize both words **and** formats for date/times, or
2. Standardize them internationally so localization doesn’t matter.
---
### Author:  [@anon80392659](https://meta.discourse.org/u/anon80392659)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 4:58pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/19 "2015-05-26T16:58:50Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Seriously? 2013? The century has to be in there? The part that’s going to be the same for a hundred years?
It’s okay because Discourse was built for the future. And in 20 years, no one will confuse the years with the days because it’ll be Jan '35.
If only we weren’t merely in the pesky two thousand teens right now.
---
### Author:  [@kensims](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kensims)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/21 "2015-05-26T20:17:10Z")
Personally I like a full date and time myself, but will that show it in the user’s timezone?
Using the duration for more recent messages and just the date for older messages mostly gets around that.
I did change our configuration to start showing the actual date after 7 days instead of whatever the default was.
---
### Author:  [@mcwumbly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/mcwumbly)
#### Post date: [August 30, 2015, 4:57pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625/23 "2015-08-30T16:57:53Z")
> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Seriously? 2013? The century has to be in there? The part that’s going to be the same for a hundred years?
I think @erlend_sh’s response to this concern is pretty spot-on:
> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> It’s a prefix of 20 to express year as opposed to '. It’s a 1 character difference, and it leaves no room for confusion.
Plus, more often than not you’re reading new stuff from the latest page. So first, you don’t get barraged with the extra character all the time anyway. And second, since you get well trained to see things as MM DD.
So seeing MM YYYY when you get to an old post is a good call-out that these post are different than what you’re used to seeing.
[Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/t/change-to-dd-mmm-mmm-yy-for-post-dates/13625.md?page=2)