BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?

Subject: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 07:41 PM

Stop it! Just name the thread topic and the new date.

"Again" is bullshit. Again and again and again and...

Oh, BTW, 2016.11.14 is today. Please display dates in SI. I have even dropped the .s. Today is 20161114. I am ahead of my time. >;-)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Stanron
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 07:44 PM

On this side of the pond

14/11/2016

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 08:04 PM

14/11/2016? Tsk tsk. Please try to keep up to date. Computers and commuters need the year first, then the month, and then the day. It's simple logic... again. 14/11/2016 is like pounds and ounces instead kilograms and grams. STOP IT!

It is presently 2016111421034h.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 08:05 PM

AST.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: gnu
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 08:10 PM

My bad. I shall sling away in shame. Again.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Stanron
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 09:03 PM

The beauty of computers is that they are programmable. Here in the UK they are programmed to accept the date the correct way round.

Day, Month, Year.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Mrrzy
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 09:41 PM

I am reminded of something I saw recently about America's worst date being 9/11, or was it 11/9? It was a reference to the day after the election, but I read it as the European date...

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 14 Nov 16 - 10:43 PM

A better idea than dating "again" threads would be to eliminate the need for them all together by not behaving like jerks and getting the original threads closed down.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: punkfolkrocker
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 12:47 AM

... no again without pain.... 🙄

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 03:39 AM

You can be polite as you like but if they don't agree with you , somehow you are the jerk !

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: DaveRo
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 04:18 AM

9/11? That's nearly 10 bob!

I would use 9NOV2011 in a subject line on a forum. Not ISO but more readable and comprehensible - at least to anglophones.

Or is it 11SEP2011? I don't think of 9/11 as a date any more.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 04:25 AM

Ah DaveRo, I used to buy stockings for 2/11 a pair... sigh...
(totally drifts off topic...)

When booking flights, one has to be very careful about this date thing. Some booking sites don't make it clear which is the day and which is the month box. You could find yourself flying when you least expect it!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 04:46 AM

As Stanron says, computers are programmable. They can hold the date in any format and display it in any format. If you are doing a sort however, 201611150936 does make sense. Any other format will result in sorts not necessarily being in the sequence you expect. If you do day/month/year you will get, for example

01012016
02021927
03032011 etc.

With year/month/day the same dates would be a more sensible

19270202
20110303
21060101

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Stanron
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 05:31 AM

When computers were small and storage was minute, economy of expression was a virtue. Now data capacity approaches infinity, economy of expression is laziness.

It is the fifteenth day of the eleventh month of twenty sixteen.

Simple.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: DaveRo
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 05:46 AM

Now data capacity approaches infinity...

The length of a Mudcat thread subject line is nearer zero.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Stanron
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 05:50 AM

DaveRo wrote: The length of a Mudcat thread subject line is nearer zero.

So what? Every post is dated.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: DaveRo
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 06:12 AM

The main thread index only has the date last posted to. It would be useful to know the thread start date, which is what the OP proposes, I assume. And not only for BS 'again' threads.

(I've thought of adding the thread start date using my Mudcat browser addon, or colouring threads less than a week old. I'd like to be able to easily distinguish those from bumped threads.)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: FreddyHeadey
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 06:15 AM

We never say
This is 250g5kg
or five ounces three pounds.
but our brains seem to be able to process 5th July 2016.
If the year is 32 or more our brains can often manage without the century but a computer can't.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Mr Red
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 07:16 AM

Computers and commuters need the year first

USA convention m/d/y
UK convention d/m/y (very logical)
international good sense y/m/d

Excel can be configured to display date in cells as any one of the 3 above plus any logical text therefore, but why did Micro$oft insist on only accepting the US convention when it came to VBA? I have to contort my programs with all sorts of algorithms to find the most likely date I have been sent.

Stanron & DtG - take note - you are mostly correct, which in compuspeak means - I am afraid - wrong. And you won't know when wrong hits you! It is down to the programmer's intelligence, and I am one. (and have some - amount unspecified).

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 06:08 PM

From: Stanron - PM
Date: 15 Nov 16 - 05:50 AM
DaveRo wrote: The length of a Mudcat thread subject line is nearer zero.
So what? Every post is dated.

I read that, and it immediately converted itself to a Monty Python song: Ev'ry post is dated (or was it "ev'ry sperm is sacred"?)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: DMcG
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 02:22 AM

I don't think I'd say Stanron and DtG were wrong myself, Mr Red, but they omitted the context. What they should have said was "when a date is represented as a string and the computer has no semantic information about what the string represents, it is best written as ISO format". The most obvious example is filenames. The thing about your Excel example is that the program has been told or inferred the string represents a date. I have had many fights with Excel over the years, especially with CSV imports, where Excel has inferred semantics incorrectly. So for example we might have a 20 digit reference code which the program changes to a double length floating point displayed in scientific notation. I have had people's names and addresses converted to dates, and so on. (I know about how you can define how fields are treated on import. Take it from me that wasn't appropriate in the cases I am thinking of)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Mr Red
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 02:52 AM

DMcG - yea.
I have to treat anything that might be construed as a date as text. After that it gets leary. eg I trap "d/m/y" reasonably well but peeps may send as "d-m-y" and "d.m.y" and then someone uses a delimiter I haven't seen! And I am expecting any time soon, a combination of delimiters.
It ain't their fault, it is my job to understand what they are saying. But the real problemo is spotting when it happens. That's automation for you, and I am an amateur in effect. Don't have the masses of data to reveal the possibilities before going live.

But to get back to the thread - yes a date on the subject line is a good idea. I may use it (international format of course).

Isn't communication a wonderful thing? When it works!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Again' threads? Why not date them?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 16 Nov 16 - 03:02 AM

Filenames is what I was talking about in the main DMcG. As a UNIX specialist of 30+ years standing , having gotten bored of COBOL and SQL after a while, I eat programmers of unspecified intelligence for breakfast. :-)

Programmer: I need more space for my mountains of code.
UNIX Administrator: Sorry, we don't have any to give you.
Programmer: But I absolutely MUST. It is VITAL
UNIX Administrator: Are you sure?
Programmer: Yes, you MUST give me more space NOW!
UNIX Administrator: OK - There you are. As much space as you want.
Programmer: Where have all my files gone...

:D tG