Meeting schedule, do we need strict UTC?

[Paul Frields]

On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 12:45 PM, Steven Moix <steven.moix at axianet.ch> wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Some months ago, we all voted to hold our IRC meetings at 21h UTC. This
> was perfectly fine for the continental-European people during the winter
> (we are at UTC+1) because the meetings were held at 22h. Now let's
> introduce Daylight Savings Time (DST) to the party...it adds another
> hour in the summer, which brings the meeting to 23h. It's clearly too
> late for me...
>
> Résumé:
> Winter: meeting at 22h
> Summer: meeting at 23h
>
> So my question is...can we hold the meetings at 21h UTC in the winter
> and at 20h UTC in the summer? It would have the effect to keep a
> constant meeting time (22h) during the whole year for us...
>
> Any comments?

I've always thought that (1) teams should be free to set their
meetings either at strict UTC, or following DST however they can
agree; and (2) computers work in UTC, and humans work on wall clocks.
My $DAYJOB schedule, for example, @3:00pm on a Thursday doesn't change
suddenly in the spring and fall to accommodate UTC.  The same meeting
I had at 3:00pm the week before stays at 3:00pm and moves according to
UTC.

So in short, I'm for staying on human time.  The only time we have to
worry about a difference is when only some people are on DST and not
others. Then there's a chance for confusion, so the meeting page
should set the policy.

Paul