# Time zones confusion **URL:** \ **Category:** Bug Reports\ **Created:** [August 2, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291 "2021-08-02T17:03:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 5:03pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/1 "2021-08-02T17:03:49Z")
For some reason when using explore time is shown for me -3 hours from real time even though it’s said to be MSK on observations, it’s an unexpected thing: [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2020-08-24&order\_by=observed\_on&page=2&place\_id=any&subview=table&user\_id=melodi\_96&verifiable=any](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?on=2020-08-24&order_by=observed_on&page=2&place_id=any&subview=table&user_id=melodi_96&verifiable=any) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/1/2/123d7790eadd1152cf00cba915c88c0d91443481.jpeg) [https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57461240](https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57461240) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/8/0/80ccf2b507679a649ea25ac8b60d9de9448f23b3.jpeg) Then for some reason EXIF shows me they were shot in -7 timezone, which is on my computer right now, while it shouldn’t affect it at all? I remember seeing EXIFs with the timezone that was on them, was it changed in any way or it’s my memory? ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/3/e/3ea94379a8c66eb7b8ada2eb2cf8a033d3a571d0.png) Just why explore shows me 6:40 and observation 9:40? ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/8/a/8a14385c4db5361d68ccfb05c479ef4d26b1b2d2.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![gustafsonja](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/858c86/32.png) [@gustafsonja](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/gustafsonja)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 5:17pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/2 "2021-08-02T17:17:50Z")
probably related to [https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/issues/3002](https://github.com/inaturalist/inaturalist/issues/3002) ? ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 5:25pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/3 "2021-08-02T17:25:49Z")
Yes, looks quite like it! Very weird that it’s not trying to show me “right” time, with plusing 3 hours to the observation time, it subtracks them! ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2021, 11:27pm UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/4 "2021-08-02T23:27:10Z")
according to the API, it looks like you may have manually recorded the observation date as “2020-08-24 9:40:53 AM GMT+03:00”. i’m guessing the system might not be expecting “GMT” with an offset after. (it might be expecting either an alpha time zone or an offset, not both.) what happens if you edit the observation time as “2020-08-24 9:40:53 AM +03:00” or “2020-08-24 9:40:53 AM MSK” instead? just for reference, the original bug report associated with the GitHub issue noted above is [https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/daylight-savings-time-not-shown-in-list-mode-on-website/21283](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/daylight-savings-time-not-shown-in-list-mode-on-website/21283). that thread actually seems to contain 2 separate issues, but it might worth tracking this bug report and that one together. ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/5 "2021-08-03T00:04:38Z")
I changed it and it still shows wrong time if I change time zone until profile settings match the zone used. I have those done with +7 time and with profile setting set to +3 they show me 8pm instead of 5! So when I change it back and forth it just fixes one part and changes the other. ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/7/e/7eee1109cafd66792496bc5b309a606010e51c6f.jpeg) ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/uploads/inaturalist/original/3X/f/4/f4ba309249aff3e87b53b8454771388d0333c07c.png) ---
**Author:** ![pisum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@pisum](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/pisum)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 12:16am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/6 "2021-08-03T00:16:16Z")
did you try a time zone (ex. MSK or NOVT) at the end of the datetime string instead of a time zone offset? ---
**Author:** ![marina\_gorbunova](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex016/user_avatar/forum.inaturalist.org/marina_gorbunova/32/31454_2.png) [@marina\_gorbunova](https://forum.inaturalist.org/u/marina_gorbunova)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2021, 12:23am UTC](https://forum.inaturalist.org/t/time-zones-confusion/25291/8 "2021-08-03T00:23:24Z")
I got confused in time zones, no, it’s still broken when I use NOVT (though I didn’t even know it’s the right abbreviation to use, system just says +7 and I had hard time determining how to write it manually). I checked now those that automatically used “MSK” and they also work the same way.