[tz] Belarus is listed in MSK timezone

Dzmitry Kazimirchyk dkazimirchyk at gmail.com
Wed Apr 1 08:19:25 UTC 2015


Paul, thank you for the informative response.

I agree that the most commonly used name for Belarus time zone is indeed 
"Minsk time". However I don't think your proposed change addresses all 
the issues here. MSK abbreviation has a long history and is commonly 
referred to as "Moscow time". See for example:

http://www.timeanddate.com/time/zones/msk

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moscow_Time

Which I assume isn't going to change in the near future, if will be 
changed at all. So it introduces certain confusion, and can arguably be 
considered discriminatory towards the country of Belarus.

Having said that I think the most appropriate solution would be to have 
separate abbreviation for "Minsk time" be it either "FET" or something 
else like "MNSK". However again I'm not sure how it aligns with IANA 
policies, and would like to hear your opinion on handling such or 
similar situations in the past.


--
Dzmitry Kazimirchyk

On 4/1/15 9:19 AM, Paul Eggert wrote:
> On 03/30/2015 08:46 AM, Dzmitry Kazimirchyk wrote:
>> my local timezone is displayed as MSK (Moscow Time) instead of FET
>> (Further Eastearn European Time).
>
> The most common English-language name for UTC+3 in Belarus nowadays
> seems to be "Minsk time", e.g.:
>
> http://eng.belta.by/all_news/sport/Slovakia-flatten-Switzerland-at-Christmas-ice-hockey-tournament-in-Minsk_i_78546.html
>
> http://eng.belta.by/all_news/sport/MAZ-SPORTavto-manages-12th-place-in-Dakar-Rally-Stage-9_i_78702.html
>
> http://www.globalresearch.ca/ukraine-ceasefire-agreement-donbass-conflict-resolution-in-minsk/5431007
>
> http://www.minskairport.com/minsk-airport-arrivals-online-timetable.html
>
>  From 2011 to 2014 a time zone separated EET (UTC+2) from MSK (then
> UTC+4), and I invented the abbreviation "FET" for this UTC+3 zone. But
> it's better if the tz database reflects existing practice rather than
> inventing it, and since we no longer have a strong need for an invented
> abbreviation I'd rather stop using it.  Instead, we can document that
> "MSK" is now ambiguous, and stands for either Minsk or Moscow time, as
> in the attached proposed patch.



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