Path: utzoo!utstat!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!usc!ucsd!ucsdhub!celit!billd
From: billd@fps.com (Bill Davids_on)
Newsgroups: news.software.b
Subject: Re: Is anyone interested in putting local time in the "Date:" header?
Message-ID: <4673@celit.fps.com>
Date: 1 Dec 89 22:34:59 GMT
References: <54794@looking.on.ca> <14785@well.UUCP>
Reply-To: billd@fps.com (Bill Davids_on)
Organization: FPS Computing Inc., San Diego CA
Lines: 27

In article <14785@well.UUCP> Jef Poskanzer <jef@well.sf.ca.us> writes:
>In the referenced message, brad@looking.on.ca (Brad Templeton) wrote:
>}Actually, since the local time/date is more of a comment then anything else,
>
>You're wrong.
[with no explantion of why]

Uses of the "Date" header:

	1. So the person reading the article can know when the article
	   was posted (this qualifies for comment status)
	2. expire -p (rarely used)
	3. Some news readers sort articles with the same subject by
	   posting date (example: nn).  This helps you get follow-ups
	   in the correct order (I hate reading follow-ups to articles
	   I haven't seen yet).

If we were to put this to a vote, I'd go for the form of:

	Date: 30 Nov 89 19:20:21 -0700

It has the advantage of still being GMT and also giving the proper
conversion (you don't have to know the rules for every country in
the world or even state in the US).  Someone said it's valid for RFC
822.  Does getdate() handle this form?  If not, we should fix it.

--Bill Davidson