Hi.

My name is Steve and I am the creator of this community.
I have been using the Internet for quite a few years and
have got very confused and annoyed when I see dates on
web pages and in downloaded documents which are not clear.

What date is 02/03/04? It depends on what date notation
system you have been brought up with but compare that date
with the same date (possibly) written using ISO8601 - 2004-03-02.
Year=2004, Month=03 (March), Day=2. Big units to the left going
smaller to the right. Add a time to the end and it makes even
more sense: 2004-03-02 14:23 - BIG ... small.

The Internet is a truely International method of communicating
- there are no political or cultural boundaries drawn on the
www page you call up - the page could have been stored in the
Smithsonian Institute or on a small server in a basement in
Ulan Bator, Mongolia. Often, you have no way of telling.
So, if anyone in the world can read your page, why not ensure
that any date references on that page can be read correctly
and unambiguously by that person, by using the ISO 8601.

Are you convinced? Tell me what you think.