This forum has no borders, so I could be communicating with a member on the other side of the world. I was thinking, wouldn’t it be helpful to know the ‘Time zone’ of members? Members are volunteers that presumably have day jobs so I would not expect a reply before their early evening and likewise they would not expect a reply until my early evening. Any thoughts on that?
I realize that ‘Time zone’ would narrow down a members location which a member may not want to be know - there for the ‘time zone’ (like all other personal info) should be voluntary.
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If you click/tap on the member’s name/avatar in the forum post, you will see their local time (as long as they have set the Timezone in their Forum Profile Preferences)
Also, if you open the member’s full profile summary page (eg: Summary - scotty65 - Manjaro Linux Forum), it will display how long ago they were seen (i.e. browsing) on the forum.
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Sure.
I’d suggest thinking of the forum as being more like email than instant chat.
Write a message and look for a response the next time you login, whether that be hours or days later. Everyone works to a different beat.
Some are online more regularly than others, and at different relative times, so it can be difficult to treat it any other way. Otherwise, you would probably find yourself staying awake half the night on the chance that a user might respond.
I’m not sure that’s particularly healthy.
Treating forum posts like email also allows you the time between messages to research or compose a worthwhile response.
Cheers.
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Uhmm… I should have clicked on a few names before posting this suggestion - sorry about that. Maybe the time zone could be displayed along with the name/avatar?
I fully agree with you. I only raised the question because (as a ‘nob’ that occasionally needs help) I sometimes feel pressured to do/run the suggestions/commands quickly and if I don’t the ‘helper’ member gets frustrated… and became reluctant to help.
Clearly some members treat it more like a ‘Chat’ line.
A good way to avoid that is to (basically) tell it like it is.
Hypothetical example:
“Thanks for your suggestions, I appreciate it. I really can’t do this right now, but when I can login again, I’ll post the results.”
If someone doesn’t respect something like that, then they probably woke up on the wrong side of the hammock that day, and nothing will please them. 
Cheers.
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The only thing that makes me reluctant to help users is when I get responses like “Don’t work” with no further explanation or data
I close topics in the Sound section if there are no further responses after 11 months
but most other forum topics have no time limit until they are marked as solved
I would prefer ALL users take as much time as they need to think about and understand comments from other users and provide a thorough response rather than a hasty one
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When in the world does this person sleep? What time zone do he live in?
What time zone does this person live in?
I am in JST +9, from the land of the rising sun.
In my case, not at the times some people would expect. Usually around sunrise to early afternoon, these days.
If I visited Japan, I wonder how long it would take for me to adjust to my usual nocturnal routine?
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about a day (or night) - or even less
… experience from doing the opposite - traveling to the US of A
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Fortunately we have no Members from Mars at this point in time, but I imagine that would add a level of complexity; considering that if we were to translate a Martian day to the typical 24 hour day of Earth, each day is 39 minutes and thirty (or so) seconds longer.
That would need to be taken into consideration, likewise the communication delay between Mars and Earth; generally an average of 22 minutes.
And if we consider Einstein’s time dilation effect, that adds further complexity to calculating effective median timeframes in which Members could interact.
Earth time zones (that most of us should be familiar with) are relatively easy in comparison to relocating to Mars, and other destinations that will soon become the norm.
Just think of the space lag!!
Any perceived space lag would likely be a non-issue.
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ha! 
Time does not matter for unsolved forum topics
OP assumes that users post in early evening, but that is the time I would usually be AFK, so users might have to wait 'til the midnight hour (or longer) for a response
(some audio diagnostics might take 2-3 days)
Checking time-zone in member profile does not work for hidden profiles
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There are a few of those on here. I wonder why?
(But not something for this thread; I might open a topic in the MH.)
Well, I can see my profile, and so can all moderators; that seems a good privacy compromise on a public forum. 
Why is this not split though, so people can see the basic info you might want to share which might be useful, whilst concealing the more “important” stuff from those you don’t wish to see it?
I guess that might be an option worth considering for whoever maintains the forum software. (Otherwise, this limits the usefulness of having a profile in the first place, like those “edit” notifications we can’t see).
Can you not see anything of my profile?
I’d assumed that common information such as system details would be generally available. 
Another item added to my Discourse annoyances list, I guess.
A simple no: it’s not. I just wanted you to see what I do. Purpose has been served!
ETA:
Post must be at least 6 characters, so unfortunately that wouldn’t have worked.
“No, it’s not” … or, perhaps… “Negative”.
How many characters would that have been?
(Still a simple “No” for most people not working with absolutes).
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Well seeing all the comments - I started something…
My ‘Standard’ time to interact with the forum is early evening (after dinner) I try to go to bed before midnight, but I sometimes find myself still typing by 2:00am!
I’m 72 and retired so I doesn’t matter what time I go to bed 
(but the wife gets cranky!)
I do check emails throughout the day, so I will know if I have a reply to a topic or not.
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