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Whenever I look at a question on Stack Overflow, once I spend maybe 30 seconds on that page, or sometimes even if I click edit, the box where it says "posted 10 minutes ago", will automatically switch to "posted 2 hours ago", no matter when it was actually posted.

It seems to happen rather randomly, but it happens on both my laptop and my desktop, which both use Google Chrome.

Is anybody else experiencing something like this?

enter image description here

This actually happened to this question right as I was about to add another comment.

Another Edit: Now when I refresh the page, it says "asked 14 minutes ago"

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22
  • Amazing..Can you post screenshots of posts with links?
    – Somnath Muluk
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:31
  • Please hover that text to see the full date, and let us know if that matches that "2 hours ago"?
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:31
  • @SomnathMuluk Of course now that I posted something about it and I'm waiting for a screencap, it hasn't happened again yet. I'll post a screencap and answer Arjan 's question when it happens again.
    – Austin
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:32
  • 2
    Is your system clock wrong by any chance?
    – balpha StaffMod
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:35
  • Smart, @balpha! Or maybe the time zone? (I have had zillion users showing an Amsterdam time, but actually some other timezone, or a wrong daylight saving time setting, hence their clock being off many hours without seeing that.)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:37
  • @SomnathMuluk Posting picture in a minute.
    – Austin
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:41
  • @Arjan the picture I posted shows the date it says it was.
    – Austin
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:42
  • Ah, then balha is probably right. The times are updated by JavaScript. The tooltip shows you're getting the correct time from the server, in <span title="2012-06-17 09:28:57Z" class="relativetime">14 mins ago</span>. Then, when the JavaScript kicks in, something goes wrong.
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 9:46
  • So, if you know how to use Console, what's the output of new Date()
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:04
  • Or: does the output of the following look okay? jsbin.com/umimib
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:11
  • @Arjan That link says I'm in (Pacific Daylight Time, but it has the correct time. (Sun Jun 17 2012 05:16:39)
    – Austin
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:17
  • So, @Austin, the time looks right for where you are, but you're saying you're actually in a different time zone? Then some settings in your computer(s) are wrong, or you're getting the wrong time from some network device you're synchronizing the time with? And: is the timestamp not showing some additional info as well? Like I get an additional GMT+0200 (CEST) in my Sun Jun 17 2012 12:20:08 GMT+0200 (CEST). If the format on your computer is different then Chrome is doing something odd...
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:21
  • (Just to explain a bit more: I could change my Amsterdam time zone to Pacific Daylight Time, and then adjust my clock to still show 12:22 right now. That would surely mess up all sort of JavaScript date calculations though.)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:23
  • (@balpha, only in case a wrong time or time zone might interfere with the global network login: maybe meta.stackoverflow.com/network-login-help might like some additional test then?)
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:27
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    Ah, and just curious: when you hover your name in the top bar, you get a dropdown that shows "UTC time 10:37". That time is updated every minute too. If you leave it open, does it change into something wrong too? Or does it just add a minute?
    – Arjan
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:38

1 Answer 1

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1

As others have indicated, your computer's system clock is likely wrong.

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  • It happens on my laptop, and my desktop though.
    – Austin
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:07
  • try a different web browser, one you don't normally use. If the problem persists, it is your clock. If it does not, then it is something about your custom browser configuration.
    – Jeff Atwood
    Commented Jun 17, 2012 at 10:32

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