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Ask Slashdot: Where Do You Stand on Daylight Saving Time?

Posted by timothy on from the I-have-an-opinion dept.

New submitter gbcox links to this article about how the switch between Standard Time and Daylight Saving Time can be dangerous, but writes Personally, I favor year 'round DST — I like the extra sunlight in the evening... but regardless, I just wish we'd pick one and stop futzing with the time twice a year. As it is right now, we only have about 4 months of standard time as it is... is it really worth the effort to switch the clocks for only four months? I think not. Where do you stand? If you have a strong opinion, it would be nice if you start your subject line in comments with "For it!" or "Against it!" If you think that the yearly clock-shifting is a good idea, when do you think each shift should occur? For those not keeping score, tonight is the switchover time for most Americans.

14 of 613 comments (clear)

  1. I'll take that bait by drinkypoo · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't care what the offset is from GMT, just leaveitthehellalone. If businesses need winter hours, they can have those.

    --
    "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    1. Re:I'll take that bait by corsec67 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Yep, "National Fuck with the Clocks" Day (Which is of course twice a year) needs to just go away.

      --
      If I have nothing to hide, don't search me
    2. Re:I'll take that bait by tlhIngan · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I don't care what the offset is from GMT, just leaveitthehellalone. If businesses need winter hours, they can have those.

      Anyone who thinks DST is easy obviously hasn't done stuff worldwide.

      Because I've just had to deal with one customer in 4 different timezones - one in the US (Eastern time), one in Portugal (Western European) and the Netherlands (Central Europe).

      And it was a weekly teleconference call. We had Portugal already in regular time )WET), but the Netherlands was moving from Central European Summer Time to Central European Time, while us in North America were still in DST.

      Endless fun figuring out a convenient time for the meeting when DST transitions randomly for different people. For those curious, WET is UTC+0000, CET is UTC+0100, WEST is UTC+0100, CEST is UTC+0200. And we had to deal with PDT (UTC-0700), EDT (UTC-0400) as usual.

      Oh yay, now we have DST over. One last time to figure out the meeting times and this unnecessary form of calculation can be put to rest for a few months (seriously, when they all switch at different times it's meant recalculating the time weekly).

      FYI - Outlook sets the meeting time to always be whoever sends the meeting invitation out regardless of DST. So if they set it to 8AM PT, it will be 8AM PST, 8AM PDT, and whatever else that works out to be - so the meeting organizer's time stays at 8, while everyone else has to deal with a meeting that has moved an hour earlier/later. Very important if your customer says they want the meeting at 1pm their time.

      I say get rid of it. International dealings get complex quickly.

  2. I'm not sure what bothers me more, by Beck_Neard · · Score: 5, Insightful

    DST or the people who constantly whine about it.

    --
    A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
  3. I'm surrounded by morons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I like the extra sunlight in the evening...

    Then wake up earlier! Futzing around with the clock doesn't change the length of the day. I loose a little more respect for the entire human race every year when I have to hear "more sunlight in the evening" again.

    1. Re:I'm surrounded by morons by cascadingstylesheet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Umm... that doesn't change the time when people get off work. The reason most people want more light at the end of the day is so they don't have to drive home in the dark.

      Then change work hours.

      If that time shift is something that we really want, as a society, then that shouldn't be too hard. Heck, I've known businesses, churches, and other entities that had "summer hours" anyway, even with the clock shift.

      Or heck, legislate a shift in work hours. It's hardly more oppressive than legislating capricious changes in the freakin' clock

    2. Re:I'm surrounded by morons by ranton · · Score: 4, Insightful

      What kind of moron thinks that he doesn't have the ability to choose his own career and work when he likes?

      So any grievance you have that isn't horrible enough to prompt you to quit your job is not worthy of complaints? Get a grip.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    3. Re:I'm surrounded by morons by dgatwood · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Most people don't get to choose their work hours. I realize that in high tech, folks insist on flexible work hours, but it isn't the norm in most industries, because most businesses are customer-centric, which tends to result in fairly rigid work hours built around when those customers need them.

      --

      Check out my sci-fi/humor trilogy at PatriotsBooks.

  4. Against it by ATMAvatar · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Daylight Saving Time is an awful idea, compounded by the fact that the rules change from location to location and can change from year to year. In computer systems, it gets even worse when you consider that different systems have different rules still, and talking to two of them at the same time can lead to irreconcilable differences which cause all kinds of headaches.

    --
    "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
  5. Make DST standard by ArchieBunker · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Make it DST year round. Daylight in the evening is much better than the mornings. You're going to work in the morning anyhow, who cares how light it is? You get out of work and still have daylight left, awesome.

    --
    Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
  6. Re:I live in Arizona, and it's a pain by lgw · · Score: 5, Insightful

    TV schedules? Like, from the 20th century? My grandfather read about those in a history book once! People use to schedule their lives around entertainment which was, get this, broadcast to everyone at the same time. Weird, right? It's true, the past is a foreign country.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
  7. Where I stand... by acroyear · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...is in a place where, after 15 years of /., I am sick and tired of having this very same, and pointless (since nobody ever changes anybody's minds here), discussion twice a year, every year, like clockwork.

    --
    "But remember, most lynch mobs aren't this nice." (H.Simpson)
    -- Joe
  8. Re:Helping retailers by TapeCutter · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Here in Melbourne, DST means my street is clogged with the parked cars of beachgoers in the evening, and yeah it definitely keeps the small shopping strip alive. Like many people in IT I have flexible working hours, neither I, or my boss, or his boss, gives a flying fuck what the clock says. However the vast majority of workers are not so fortunate, for them it's fixed hours or nothing. So if these people want to change the clock so more daylight is available after they knock off why should I care?

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    And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
  9. Re:Who cares if it makes sense,,, by Tough+Love · · Score: 4, Insightful

    We spent thousands of man years on making this shit work...

    It doesn't work. It has never worked. It will never work. It is nothing less than one metric ton of pure unadulteraded idiocy, always has been and always will be.

    --
    When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.