GMT plus or minus

[Chuck Hallenbeck]

Can somebody clarify for me what the standard is, with respect to the time
offset from GMT? I am in the Eastern US Time Zone, five hours earlier than
GMT (soon to be four) and much of the software I have seen uses something
like "-500" next to the time stamps on my email etc. Clearly that does not
mean "my time - 500" but "GMT - 500". However, nettamer insists on using
+500 as the offset, and MICQ also seems to use "+" as the offsets for
North American time zones. Does anyone know for sure which is correct? I
just gave "-5" for my GMT offset in MICQ and may have ended up in eastern
Europe or somewhere!

Chuck.


My web site is http://www.mhonline.net/~chuckh (I C Q = 67363342)
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Benjamin Franklin, 1759.