Updating timezone for all forum members

[Jdo300]

I recently updated the timezone for my forum from (forum.juicehouse.org) -5 EST to -5 EDT to account for daylight savings time in the admin panel settings. But now, some users reported that they are still seeing the time value offset by 1 hr. Is there any easy way to force update all forum users to the same timezone as the forum (all members of the forum are in the same timezone). I'm running SMF 2.1.3.

[Kindred]

Why are you not using the NAMED timezone setting? That way it automatically adjusts for dst

[Sesquipedalian]

Indeed. You should set the forum's default time zone to America/New_York (or some other appropriate city if your forum primarily serves members in another country).

[Jdo300]

I checked the timezone labels and I don't have any for specific city names under the UTC-4 or UTC-5 setting. We're in Toledo, OH so I currently have the timezone set for "[UTC-4:00] Eastern Time (EDT/EST)". Under this setting, will the forum auto-adjust for daylight savings time when it changes?

Also, I did confirm again with one of the users that their profile was still set to [UTC-5:00] Eastern Standard Time (EST), which was the previous, incorrect setting. Is there any way to update this to the correct setting for all users or do I need to manually go into each user's profile to change it?

[Kindred]

if they have timezone set in their profile, then they would need to manually change it every time.



huh... I swear that I thought we added named timezones (like "America/New_York") in 2.1

[Sesquipedalian]

Oh, right. I forgot that we updated the time zone display in the admin centre to use the same user-friendly labels that we use everywhere else.

Anyway, yes, choose "Eastern Time (EDT/EST)" as the forum default. Under the hood that will select America/New_York, but you don't need to worry about those implementation details.

As for your users, you can tell them that they should choose the version that shows "(EDT/EST)", or "(MDT/MST)", or whatever is appropriate for where they live. The only exception is if they live in a place that doesn't use Daylight Saving Time, such as Arizona, in which case they should choose the option that only mentions standard time in their time zone.

Once the user has chosen the correct time zones option for where they live, they will not need to change it again afterwards. It will automatically adjust itself for Daylight Saving Time changes henceforth.

Users who selected the "Forum Default" for their own time zone (which is the default choice) will automatically be updated whenever you change the forum default. Users who specifically selected a different time zone will continue to use whatever they choose until such time as they change it themselves.