What's the time, Mr. Wolf?

Would there be any mileage in [optionally] displaying the time of day of your opponent? Currently when you hover your mouse over the country flag, it shows the country name. Could it also show the time there? I won't be asking for population and GDP figures next, honestly.

You could always just ask them!!!

That wouldn't necessarily work.

a) They might lie.

b) They might make a mistake.

c) They might not reply immediately - so the time they give would then be out of date.

d) I would then have to remember the time difference in future games, for each opponent I'd asked.

e) They might not have access to a clock.

f) They might not be able to tell the time.

g) ....

And they might be playing online using a cardboard box?

You seem to be agreeing with me but my scheme needs more work. What happens if the opponent is from Dublin (say) - is registered under an Irish flag - but is temporarily playing in Dubai or Dubrovnic? Obviously you need a GPS tie-in to find out where the player really is.

We could all have electronic tracker devices fitted under the skin at the back of our heads?

I really hate it when folks lie about the time of day.

With the 24+ time zones, and if it's possible, that's a good idea!

Don't forget, there are some folks who won't give you the time of day.

Okay, okay, I've got it.

Everyone has to have a webcam active when they go online at Chess.com.

In the background, there must be a clock showing the local time as well as a window through which local meteorological conditions can be viewed.

Anonymity can be maintained by everyone wearing Hockey masks.

I can see no advantage to knowing your opponent's time of day.  Time is only a number and means very little by itself.  Mabey your opponent works a night job so even if its midnight over there he might just be getting up to start his day.  Why would you want to know what time the clock says, anyway, what advantage is there in that?  The only time you should be paying attention to is the times on your chess clocks.  I do think it would be good if they put the country name next to the flag or if you could at least click on the flag to find out what country it represents.

bowanza wrote: ...  Why would you want to know what time the clock says, anyway, what advantage is there in that?  ...  I do think it would be good if they put the country name next to the flag or if you could at least click on the flag to find out what country it represents.

 Bowanza makes a fair point: why WOULD you want to know what their clock SAYS? Their clock might be lying too.

Nice try, Evil-Homer: "In the background, there must be a clock showing the local time as well as a window through which local meteorological conditions can be viewed." but I don't think we can trust a webcam; that view might be faked. I would hope that the nearest local weather measuring station could be contacted.

Evil-Homer: "We could all have electronic tracker devices fitted under the skin at the back of our heads?" To avoid having paying for it yourself, isn't there a tagging scheme you can sign up for? But let's not get carried away; we don't want to lose the the friendly, trusting community that we all signed up for.

@artfizz

You speak with forked tongue!!

we don't want to lose the the friendly, trusting community that we all signed up for

Yet you think clocks will be changed and outside weather conditions faked! I think given your record of duplicity to date that it is up to you to make the first move as a sign of good faith.  If that is deemed to be sufficient, others may then deem it possible to do likewise.

I don't think clocks WILL BE changed nor outside weather conditions faked. I wrote that they MIGHT be. I'm as trusting as the next guy, believe me (except, perhaps, when interacting with members called nasty, evil and bad - none of whom I have yet played, I hasten to add).

Not to drift too far away from my original point: chess.com already shows us the flag that the opponent designates. It also tells us the country associated with that flag. I would be interested to be aware of the time zone.

You're all over the place now.

1st it was timezone,

Then it was timezone if they were somewhere other than the place their flag represented.

Make your mind up.

Duplicitous I say, Duplicitous indeed.

To avoid confusion, Chess.com should purchase a chain of islands.  All members must move to the islands.  OTB chess will, of course, be banned on this seaside chessopolis, at least until Erik can recoop the cost of buying the islands.  Non-paying members will have ads painted on their front doors.  We can replace chess mentor with chess guru, which will be a small team of talented players(Yasser Seirawan instantly springs to mind) who make house calls.  To keep load time(well, travel time) down on chess guru, Piotr will develop teleportation technology.

If you think Erik will go for it, you have my backing. I'd worry though that the rate charged to premium members might have to go up. We are talking tropical islands, right?

www.worldtimeserver.com click current times up in the left corner

weather and time are displayed just look for the country and click

But seriously.... I second the original poster's desire for a simple, unobtrusive local time indicator (i.e. appended to the country name on mouse hover over the flag, displayed relative to the local user of course).

The time value would come directly from the opponent's profile - country and timezone are separate settings so your Scottish player can, if she desires, adjust her time zone to reflect that trek through the Andes.

If nothing else it would satisfy my curiosity, but beyond that I think it would help to provide useful context about my opponent when engaging in conversation, etc.

EDIT:  on second thought, since the relative-local-time would have to be calculated, maybe the mouse-hover on the flag isn't the best place (unless JS drives that OnHover event).  Adding it to their profile instead would be just as good.

My time is set different then my flag