Add timezone field for users

[TheBlue-1]

Description

The apis User object should contain a timezone field, which would be his last used timezone or maybe changable with a setting in the client. It should make it possible to interpret times the user writes.

Why This is Needed

I have a Discord bot which has a remember feature. So if for example a user writes he wants to be remembered at 8:12 pm to go with his dog, the bot currently can just remember the user at 8:12 pm UTC because I dont know the current time at the users place. This could be used for many features of bots where the user would want to provide a fixed time. So the current problem is basically that a time written by a user cant be interpreted correctly.

Alternatives Considered

I think there are 2 alternatives:

• discordcould also implement a timestamp-tag which would work like a mention. for example if a user in GMT+1 writes 20.11.2021 08:12:14 it will be highlighted as a timestamp and sent as <~1637392334000> so the bot will know that the user meant 20.11.2021 07:12:14 UTC. (This would also be a good feature for users of different timezones when they write with each other, maybe also on big servers)

• just using UTC times and timespans to specify times, so the user has to o the maths before entering the time. I really dont like this, but its the only thing that currently works...

Additional Details

[RedDaedalus]

Exposing user locale or timezone is kind of a security risk since it exposes approximate location, but some sort of timestamp field would be nice.

[jhgg]

you know timestamp does that too, right? :P with even higher precision than locale.

[ghost]

Would it not be possible to just have a bot command like ~!timezone` where the user can set their timezone if they wish?

[TheBlue-1]

Exposing user locale or timezone is kind of a security risk since it exposes approximate location, but some sort of timestamp field would be nice.

I understand your concern but I think the locale field for language already tells about the location. I think a timezone has a bigger range than a language (if its not english).

[TheBlue-1]

Would it not be possible to just have a bot command like ~!timezone` where the user can set their timezone if they wish?

Of course its possible, but as a user I wouldnt like to have to enter my timezone. I would prefer it automated.

[Lachee]

Exposing user locale or timezone is kind of a security risk since it exposes approximate location, but some sort of timestamp field would be nice.

I understand your concern but I think the locale field for language already tells about the location. I think a timezone has a bigger range than a language (if its not english).

i strongly disagree. Locale pins you to any country anywhere in the world. Timezone exactly pinpoints your location. If a user was +5 3/4 H you would be able to determine they are in nepal, or even +9 1/2h would be South Australia, Australia.

[erkinalp]

What about allowing them but privacy-gating per-user? That way, each user can choose whether to expose that (to nobody else, to friends, to guild members, to friends of friends, or to everyone).

[AEnterprise]

maybe this is something that could be done in slash commands? have a datetime type, the client can then use the users local timezone and just return UTC for bots to use, allows easy time picking without exposing anything to the bot

[msciotti]

This is the correct solution, a datetime picker that shows the user localized content but returns data to bots in UTC.

[ItsTisme]

maby i'm foolish but was this ever added? can't really find anything on this

[xSke]

I'd agree with a datetime type in slash commands, as well as some kind of "rich text" equivalent of strftime? Throw the client a unix timestamp and a format string, and it gets rendered as appropriate. I think that would solve most of the problems on its own without the privacy concerns. Plus, I'd just love to see more rich text options in general ;)

[mralext20]

Sending localized times is already possible, in embeds. See https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/channel#embed-object-embed-structure for that ability.

[xSke]

It is, but that only gets you one per embed, though. Wouldn't allow for eg. a list of things where each has an associated local timestamp, including it as part of a sentence (eg. "this user was last seen at XX:YY pm").

[TheBlue-1]

Sending localized times is already possible, in embeds. See https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/channel#embed-object-embed-structure for that ability.

its not about sending timestamps, its about receiving them from a user

[macdja38]

Sending localized times is already possible, in embeds. See https://discord.com/developers/docs/resources/channel#embed-object-embed-structure for that ability.

note that embeds don't allow you to show a date time more than like 24h away while preserving the time.

If it's Monday and I set an embed time to Thursday at 7pm EST, users will just see "Thursday" until Thursday rolls around, at which point they'll see "Today at 7pm" (assuming they're in EST, etc)

Point is if you're scheduling events for the future it's nearly useless