Hello Paul,

PH> Now other BBS around the globe use this gateway.

Are you very sure?

PH> They post from all sorts of timezones but when their message lands
PH> here in New Zealand (often within 1-2 minutes of when they post it
PH> because most BBS traffic is carried over TCP/IP
PH> these days using BinkP and not POTS dial-up as in the 1990s)

My UniCornBBS in Arnhem.NL in Europe still uses POTS, and mostly once a day.
For your information: in the near future before september 2019 I have to
move to TCP/IP wich UniCornBBS,
probably on a (reserve old) Raspberry Pi 1B and/or BeagleBoard.
My most luxury Pi 3B+ is used for my own pleasure ;-).
I am now seeking for the right RISC OS and/or Raspbian Linux FTN software
packages, which help from a colleage Dutch sysop.
Advise about this FTN solution is very welcome.

PH> the gateway posts their message and uses a Date:
PH> entry that is the local time in New Zealand and the timezone (+1200)

And that is not correct I think.
It should use the original time and timezone that was written,
i.e. in my case UTC/GMT+02:00, and not the local time of the gateway.
Bacause you then filter away the travel time between my BBSsystem and
the gateway, which can be many hours.

When FidoNet Points write mail, and send it to their Boss BBS,
their writing times are coming through unaltered, as it should be.
So I think the gate should not change times either.

The problem arises when there is no timezone given in the received message.
Only then there is a reason to add a new timezone of arrival at the gate.
But if there is given an orignal time and timezone, it should not be altered in
something new, which is always later.
That can give other problems the other way round,
i.e. wich reply messages coming back,
especially because traveltimes forth and back are not the same.
So use local time plus correct time zone as much as possible.

> I am going to restore the +1200 timezone info now to this and subsequent
> post
> as it's clear to me it should be there and should not have been removed.

You live 10 hours later then me,
so the problem only arises when you answer my messages,
and your reply has no timezone,
then at other systems westwards from you they receive messages in the future.
Am I right?

Another problem is that many people have their timezone not correct at their
system.
I have a Dutch VeloType speach to text reporter for the deaf who uses a
laptop which a timezone in the USA,
but has set here time correct for the Netherlands, arg ;-(.
When I got an amail from here the time looks very strange, but she does not
understand why she should change here time zone from -05:00 USA to +02:00 NL
to get her e-mails right at the receivers end.
She says: My computer shows the correct time, so nothing has to change.
Strange, because she has a Dutch mother and an Englisch father.
So she should understand wat UTC/GMT means.

The other mistake are people who always set their system to UTC/GMT +00:00
regardless of where they actually are,
but in reality they use the local Dutch time, not the supposed UK-time.
I.e. it is the same error as my speach to text reporter.
I donot know how to get that people convinced of changing their timezone.

It is more complicated, as we have summertime since 1977.
I.e. at the last sunday of March we go from +01:00 GMT to +02:00 GMT.
And at the last sunday of October we go from +02:00 GMT back to +01:00 GMT.
I hate that too, and there are plans to change it to a standard local time
during the whole year without changing every half year we do now.
Most people donot like that unnecessarry jet lag two times a year ;-(.
And as other countries also have summertime, it could be more complicated when
that has other change dates then we have.
So keeping this correct is a realy good puzzle to get it right all times.

Henri.

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