★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 This doesn't directly pertain to ex-christian life, but I thought it was something that everyone should be made aware of. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/01/02/do-not-abbreviate-year-2020-in-date/2795857001/ Edited to add a disclaimer for those who would like to read things into this post that aren't there: I am not suggesting to go hysterical. I am not suggesting to be worried. I am not suggesting that there is a high risk of this happening to you. This is only intended to bring awareness to a possibility. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator TheRedneckProfessor Posted January 3, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2020 I wonder what people did to protect themselves back in 1919. Maybe just died from Spanish flu... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted January 3, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2020 Reminds me of the Y2K hysteria. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerk Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Interesting, but it seems to me that any such document would have a stamp of some sort. Checks get cancelled. Legal documents get notarized or stamped in some other way. Ever since 2000, I've written out the full year anyway, so I guess I'll just keep doing it! The hardest thing for me to wrap my head around this year is that the Y2K hysteria was TWENTY YEARS AGO! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 55 minutes ago, Lerk said: The hardest thing for me to wrap my head around this year is that the Y2K hysteria was TWENTY YEARS AGO! Indeed. Where has the time gone? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 3 hours ago, florduh said: Reminds me of the Y2K hysteria. Completely different. Y2K was ridiculous. There's no hysteria here. Just a common sense awareness that it would be easy for an abbreviated date to be altered. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted January 3, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted January 3, 2020 40 minutes ago, Citsonga said: Completely different. Y2K was ridiculous. There's no hysteria here. Just a common sense awareness that it would be easy for an abbreviated date to be altered. No hysteria? It's trending everywhere like a wildfire. In this age of electronic filing of everything, I find this ludicrous. If you make a written paper contract you have an original you keep and it is likely simultaneously filed electronically. Obviously, anything can easily be changed to anything else electronically, and that's where the real weakness lies. Nobody even writes checks anymore, but they would be less likely to be altered than an electronic payment, and even that rarely happens, though the occasional scam (real or anticipated) always makes big scare headlines anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Sorry, man. I don't keep up with what's trending. I'm not on social media. It's just something that had crossed my mind and then I saw a news article about it. All I posted here was that news article, which isn't hysteria at all. Regardless, there is potential for something like that to happen. Don't pretend there isn't. That doesn't mean to go hysterical. It's just being aware of the possibility and avoiding it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 2019 was almost as risky. The 19 could be turned into 1997 for example. I'm not worried. If this is all you have to worry about... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 1 hour ago, Ro-bear said: 2019 was almost as risky. The 19 could be turned into 1997 for example. I'm not worried. If this is all you have to worry about... I'm not the least bit worried about it and I never suggested anyone worry about it. I was just mentioning the possibility. That's all. 2019 really wasn't an issue at all. One would have be going back at least 20 years if turning the 19 into 19xx. There wouldn't be much legal grounds trying to bring such an old claim against someone. The likelihood of experiencing a scam with 20 is small, but the potential is there. Simply realizing that is not being hysterical and worrisome. It's just acknowledging the possibility. Nothing more, nothing less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted January 4, 2020 Super Moderator Share Posted January 4, 2020 Are there any examples of "19" being changed to 1989, 1995, or anything else? That was the easy one! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 4, 2020 Author Share Posted January 4, 2020 Just now, florduh said: Are there any examples of "19" being changed to 1989, 1995, or anything else? That was the easy one! I don't know, but as I already said: 41 minutes ago, Citsonga said: 2019 really wasn't an issue at all. One would have be going back at least 20 years if turning the 19 into 19xx. There wouldn't be much legal grounds trying to bring such an old claim against someone. At any rate, I've added this to the original post: 8 hours ago, Citsonga said: Edited to add a disclaimer for those who would like to read things into this post that aren't there: I am not suggesting to go hysterical. I am not suggesting to be worried. I am not suggesting that there is a high risk of this happening to you. This is only intended to bring awareness to a possibility. That's all. Nothing more, nothing less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellinas Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 A far bigger issue for me, as I occasionally have to deal with international legal documents, is keeping a look out for drafts that allow confusion between American and UK usage. 05/01/20 would equate to 5th January 2020 here, 1st May 2020 in a country that uses the American convention, and confusion in any country where someone thinks about it and doesn't know which approach is being used, or which follows a completely different convention. Consequently, I tend to write in full in formal documents. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 5, 2020 Author Share Posted January 5, 2020 1 hour ago, Ellinas said: A far bigger issue for me, as I occasionally have to deal with international legal documents, is keeping a look out for drafts that allow confusion between American and UK usage. 05/01/20 would equate to 5th January 2020 here, 1st May 2020 in a country that uses the American convention, and confusion in any country where someone thinks about it and doesn't know which approach is being used, or which follows a completely different convention. Consequently, I tend to write in full in formal documents. Yeah, that does create some issues. I also always write it out fully on checks and anything legal. For other things, whenever using the shorter notation, as an American I would write 5/1 for May 1, since that's how it's always done among the general public here. However, I work at a government installation and the military would list it as 1 May instead of May 1, so some people would shorten it to 1/5. That's less common, though, since those using the military version usually write it out as 1 May, but I have seen it the other way and it does occasionally lead to confusion. For computer files, though, whenever I include the date I always do it year first, then month, and then day (such as 20200501 for the May 1, 2020 example). That's the most sensible way since the files will then list chronologically. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
midniterider Posted January 5, 2020 Share Posted January 5, 2020 If I still wrote checks.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 6, 2020 Author Share Posted January 6, 2020 5 hours ago, midniterider said: If I still wrote checks.... Haha. I rarely do, myself, but my mechanic isn't modernized, so I write checks for him. I also sometimes write check for gifts I mail to relatives. That's about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted January 7, 2020 Share Posted January 7, 2020 On 1/3/2020 at 7:04 PM, Citsonga said: I'm not the least bit worried about it and I never suggested anyone worry about it. I was just mentioning the possibility. That's all. My "you" was intended as a generic you; I was not giving you the business. Sorry it came off that way. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
★ Citsonga ★ Posted January 7, 2020 Author Share Posted January 7, 2020 23 minutes ago, Ro-bear said: My "you" was intended as a generic you; I was not giving you the business. Sorry it came off that way. That's cool, man. Thanks. For me, I think it was just a matter of your comment coming right after florduh's overreaction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator TABA Posted January 7, 2020 Moderator Share Posted January 7, 2020 FWIW, the legal department of my company sent out an all-employee e-mail about this the other day, advising us to write "2020" instead of "20". Might help. can't hurt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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