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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!akgua!sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!hplabs!hao!seismo!brl-tgr!wmartin
From: wmartin@brl-tgr.ARPA (Will Martin )
Newsgroups: net.news
Subject: Dates in news headings
Message-ID: <3005@brl-tgr.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 23-May-84 09:50:27 EDT
Article-I.D.: brl-tgr.3005
Posted: Wed May 23 09:50:27 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 31-May-84 19:21:30 EDT
Organization: Ballistics Research Lab
Lines: 21

What determines the date formats displayed in the headings of news items?

Some show a reasonable and usable form, such as:
"Article 30 of 37, May 8 23:53"

However, most show the day of the week, such as:
"Article 446 of 477, Thu 00:45"

(Actually, showing the time is also rather a waste, but somebody must
have wanted it to show up, so it can be ignored, I guess...)

With the delays in USENET transmission, and the fact that sometimes you lag
behind in reading news postings, the "day of the week" form is fairly
useless for any reasonable purpose. The "actual date" form is much to be
preferred.

Can the "actual date" form be made standard and universal in future
releases of netnews software? Is this determined by the software of
the poster, or by that of the reader?

Will