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I live in Australia, in a completely different time zone to the UK. I have been a member here for only five months, but mathematics is currently my life and I have a continuous and ongoing interest in studying and teaching. I have clocked up 30 consecutive days with visits here several times over. Some days I don't stay long and other days I get involved for a while, but I have visited every day except during December, when I was having a break.

The problem is that if I visit here in the morning one day, but don't get back until the afternoon the following day, I have missed an entire UK day. My visit calendar shows there are only one or two single days missing from every month, not counting December, since I joined on 24th September.

It's been pointed out to me that UTC is the time zone being used. Well, I have family that far away in time and I'm well versed with the difficulties it creates. On a site like Maths.SE, as a mathematician I believe there isn't a problem, within reason, that we can't solve. Is it really that hard to program a time zone sensitive system? Is it really that hard to program something that will be largely immune to abuse? Are we victims, or are we in control?

Okay, the bug tag has been edited out and replaced with the discussion tag. Maybe it's not a bug, maybe it's intended behaviour, but my point is that I'm not just interested in discussing it, I believe it's limited and wrong and the reasons for not implementing a time zone sensitive system are weak at best. If Fermat's last theorem can be proved, this should be a walk in the park. So, it's a feature request.

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    $\begingroup$ Actually, all times on the Stack Exchange network are based on the UTZ time zone (essentially GMT). (See MSO.) $\endgroup$
    – user642796
    Mar 12, 2014 at 6:08
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    $\begingroup$ Sleep little, sleep often. Time zones become immaterial after doing that. :-) $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 12, 2014 at 6:34
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    $\begingroup$ I live in Australia, and I have the Fanatic badge. $\endgroup$
    – Gerry Myerson
    Mar 12, 2014 at 6:36
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    $\begingroup$ duuuuude, you're taking badges waaaaaay too seriously. $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 9:28
  • $\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer I thought I'd noticed the day changing over at 12:30 PM here, but I'm currently UTC+10:30. $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 12, 2014 at 9:37
  • $\begingroup$ @Sabyasachi You are kidding right? I focus on my interests and otherwise stay out of it and have 15 badges after 131 days. You on the other hand have 21 after 31 days. Maybe you didn’t chase them, but it invalidates your point. If I really, really wanted to chase the enthusiast badge, I'd have one already. You can get one just by visiting for five seconds at the same time every day. I generally don't care about this stuff, but being a daily regular and noticing the occasional day drop out I got all mathematical about it. $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 12, 2014 at 9:47
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    $\begingroup$ @GeoffPointer my remark was strictly tongue in cheek. You're again getting too serious. $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:23
  • $\begingroup$ And dude, stalking someone's Mathematics profile is way more weird that stalking their facebook. $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:24
  • $\begingroup$ And no I got lucky with badges, in a weird way. For instance, I got my one silver badge, the 'Nice answer' badge in a reply to a question, "what is this formula called". Answer:"Brahmagupta's formula. Here is the wikipedia link" $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:25
  • $\begingroup$ @Sabyasachi Perhaps you're still only being tongue in cheek but just in case, your stalking comment is unnecessary. We all have public profiles here. If you poke your nose into a conversation you shouldn't expect to remain anonymous. A lot of people put comments in their profiles, why would they do that if they didn't want anyone to read it? This isn't the Freemasons. The international academic community is open not closed. I'm not afraid of people knowing who I am even I am insignificant in the scheme of things. $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:38
  • $\begingroup$ @GeoffPointer tongue in cheek. Relax! $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:40
  • $\begingroup$ Wow, man wow. Cool down $\endgroup$
    – Guy
    Mar 12, 2014 at 10:40
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    $\begingroup$ This feature request at meta.SO Change the definition of a “day” to be localized for users is status-declined. You can have a look at discussions there and in related questions. $\endgroup$
    – Martin Sleziak
    Mar 12, 2014 at 11:23
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    $\begingroup$ Thankyou @MartinSleziak. Finally, an answer that really helps. Having now read some of that history I'm left wondering why it's such a complicated thing to ask. People are always raving on about how people are going to abuse this or that feature. Is that it? We accept living in the cracks between bad behaviour because it's supposedly too difficult to really deal with? I just don't buy it, but one way or another I end up being a cynic. $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 12, 2014 at 13:35
  • $\begingroup$ @ArthurFischer Okay, I actually had an opportunity to check my account today around 11:25 AM Australian CST and the review tallies had already reset. With my routine I've realised this actually increases my chance of missing a day than with a US time zone. $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 13, 2014 at 1:12

1 Answer 1

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If you look at my visit calendar

We can't; it's shown to you only (and maybe also to moderators).

As Arthur Fischer said, a Stack Exchange Day begins at UTC 0:00. Which is still not equally convenient to all, but at least it follows an international time standard.

Suggestions: visit the site from a mobile device, e.g., smartphone. The mobile version of the site is easy to use. There are also official apps for both Android and iOS (the latter still by invitation only), and loading the site in an app counts as a visit.

If you don't own a smartphone and are unwilling to buy one for the sole purpose of visiting Math.SE, then you are not a real enthusiast.

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    $\begingroup$ I think buying a smartphone for the sole purpose of visiting math.SE is more of a fanatical thing to do. (Or perhaps even Asafian.);-) $\endgroup$
    – user642796
    Mar 12, 2014 at 6:52
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    $\begingroup$ "If you don't own a smartphone and are unwilling to buy one for the sole purpose of visiting Math.SE, then you are not a real enthusiast." Yeah, and if you turn off the notifications on the app during the night you are not a real enthusiast :) $\endgroup$
    – TooTone
    Mar 12, 2014 at 16:50
  • $\begingroup$ @Arthur: I actually don't use the Android application; nor the mobile interface. $\endgroup$
    – Asaf Karagila Mod
    Mar 12, 2014 at 16:52
  • $\begingroup$ @AsafKaragila Is that because you never go out? %^) $\endgroup$
    – Geoff Pointer
    Mar 13, 2014 at 7:03

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