Forum dates
 

why are the dates on the forum in the US format (MM-DD-YYYY) instead of the one that is used in Europe and most of the world? (DD-MM-YYYY)?

I think it's because the creators of vBulletin are American.

the creators of vBulletin are British
+I'm sure the setting can be changed

Oh, my bad. I thought they were American because of the American support number, and the lack of a British one, on their site.

Go into your settings and change it.

Why not?

because Graal is not an American game and there is no reason to use the less common format, it can be confusing

I have to admit that I get confused with the American Format..

And to be honest I don't see why thye have it mm/dd/yyyy - Maybe it is how they say it; like they say July 4th and we would say the 4th of July.

Meh I dunno, but I think it should be the European format too ^^

Is there such a setting?

Most players are American though, and it's less confusing for us since we are aware of the two different date standards while Americans are generally clueless.

I'm not sure most are Americans, maybe half from North America?
I think Canadians are using the European format too.

if Americans are so clueless they should learn

I had a brief look and couldn't find it.

It is suprising, however, considering I imagine it wouldn't be hard for vB to implement and quite a few users would benefit from it!

It's the same deal with military time - for some reason most Americans I talk too have no idea on how to read it.

Americans are stupid.
I can say this, because I'm American and I have to live and deal with it daily.

Stupid isn't really the right word; a lot of people tend not to use common sense. There are also a lot of very bright people.

yeah, it should at least be an option too

Bright people are few and far between. By saying there are 'also' a lot of bright people you're implying that there also aren't many bright people, but still explaining that stupid isn't the right word. The definition of stupid is someone who isn't very bright... I know there are many intelligent people in America, but with the biased education system that's controlled by the government and all of the mindless pop culture I think it's becoming less and less.

I also think it's safe to assume about 75% of Graal's players ARE American, and the date should remain the same.

Yeah, stupid is the wrong word. Esentially, it is as if a significant number are wearing horse blinders so they don't take notice of the rest of the world. But the same happens in England, with people from London.

Esentially, there is everything you need in America for a lifetime, and everything in London for a lifetime that you could easily live your life without knowledge of the world as a whole (for the american criticism) or the rest of England (for Londoners). The attitude here is usually "well why would I know about ___ or have been to ___ when I live in London, everythings in London"

I guess ignorance of things outside their percieved perimiters would be a good way to describe it too.

Many Americans are marked by a lack of intellectual acuity, due to, as you basically said, everything being handed to them on a silver platter. To me, a lack of intellectual acuity is the same thing as stupid and I think the dictionaries would agree. It's not only academic behavior, but also their lack of awareness that makes it blatantly clear to me that the American population is one of the dullest populations of people in the entire planet, especially my generation. This is getting off-topic though... it would be nice if people could actually have their own setting to change the date display, but I'm sure that's probably not going to happen.

I was thinking of Invision boards, and the very fact it's a common setting.

As a fine example of general ignorance, I always assumed everyone was able to read military time from early ages (like I was taught).

so who's for the change?

aye! Make a poll!

I can't add a poll to this thread. maybe a moderator could add one? if not I'll create a new one

True, we'll wait a little while then create a new thread w/ poll.

I don't really mind the day formats, I just find it to be confusing when there are dates where it could be the other way around, too, like 06.08.2008 or similar stuff.

Everywhere in the world has overachievers and underachievers. Granted, percentages vary, but for you to make such an outlandish statement is ridiculous. America still tops the chart for Nobels. We still have the greatest higher institutions, and we still turn out globally the highest amount of theories and advancements per capita. It's easy to notice flaws in anything, including a population because these are common archetypes close to everyone's heart, but
achievements aren't spread to everyone eyes (and unless they are specifically in that field, hardly ever.)

For areas that most of you can hold close to your hearts (ie invention of current technology). Look at Intel and AMD, or Texas Instruments (providing origins for DLP technology). Plasma Displays, LCD Displays, all American invented. First video game, America. First Video Game Console, America. First coin-op, america.
UIUC constantly pushes out technological firsts.

Don't even get me started into science or math (the only millennium problem solved was done so by an American)

Grigori Perelman is Russian

HMM I was working off of Hamilton's work, but I will give you that one :P

It's not confusing Europeans, and the other way around will confuse Americans. Therefor I don't see why it's a problem the way it is.

I mean you might as well use military time while you're at it.

it is confusing sometimes when the date is like 3.12 and it's older than you think

The current date format is "m-d-y"

US Format (e.g., 04-25-98): m-d-y
Expanded US Format (e.g., April 25th, 1998): F jS, Y
European Format (e.g., 25-04-98): d-m-y
Expanded European Format (e.g., 25th April 1998): jS F Y

If an Admin could change it to Expanded US Format it would be more clear to Europeans.

Agreed!

Does that means Europeans are smarter?

I think Americans are generally more clueless about other countries than we are about them. This is mostly because all our media is from America though and normal people in the US really have no reason to need to concentrate on foreign lands.

Doesn't have much to do with being "smart" in my opinion.

Its not hard to figure out that month and date numbers were reversed when you have something like 30-07-1990 as a date. Doesn't matter if other countries use that or not.

then why not change it to an expanded version of the more common format instead?

Like it's been mentioned in the thread, we, Europeans, are more likely to understand their format then they are with our format.

I'm sure everyone (even the ones who dont know about the other format) will understand the extended format (3-December-08).

plus it's also confusing to Europeans, and the Americans should learn to use the format most of the world uses and not the opposite

I disagree, because the extended format is more similar to our default one, then what our format is to theirs.