[tz] [PROPOSED PATCH 1/4] Prefer +-NN notation for UT-offset time zones in comments.

[Brian Inglis]

On 2016-08-24 08:56, Ian Abbott wrote:
> On 24 August 2016 12:40:16 p.m. Robert Elz <kre at munnari.OZ.AU>
> wrote:
>> Date:        Tue, 23 Aug 2016 16:55:42 -0700 From:        Paul
>> Eggert <eggert at cs.ucla.edu> Message-ID:
>> <1471996545-960-1-git-send-email-eggert at cs.ucla.edu> I am not a fan
>> of this change in general, I think UTC-1 is both more common, and
>> less ambiguous than -01 (from the latter it isn't even obvious that
>> the expression has anything to do with time offsets) but this
>> change in particular ... | -# Zhongyuan Time ("Central plain Time")
>> UT+8 | +# Zhongyuan Time ("Central plain Time") -08 cannot be
>> right.
> To me, UTC-1 looks too much like a traditional Unix TZ value with
> negated offset, leading to possible confusion about the direction of
> the offset. My personal preference would be to use the ±HHMM format
> (with non-negated offsets), as that is more recognizable as an
> offset.

I am concerned about:
* the downstream effect of these changes on client code
* changes like that resulting in a previous banning from the list
* duplication of the numeric offset in a useless text string
   already available as a different format string, and the
   subsequent need to change that string every time an offset
   changes
* the lack of any legislative or widespread community push
   towards making unnecessary changes to the data
* the lack of any coordination with downstream distributors and
   consumers e.g. travel industry, airlines, to assess the impact
* political impact from outrage by American, Canadian, European,
   etc. output consumers, managers, IT managers, programmers when
   their favourite TLA gets replaced by some number based on the UK
* increasing possibility of a competing fork as authoritative for
   large numbers of downstream distributors, hosted by a commercial
   or political organization with an interest in standards.

-- 
Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis, Calgary, Alberta, Canada