bkmunroe
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posted on December 21, 2000 01:06:47 PM
I ask this because I was reading another thread where the person thought today 12/21 was Free Listing Day. I checked the original announcement on Ebay and noticed that it was worded strangely.
This is a portion of the announcement posted on Ebay at 6:54PM 12/19.
As a thank you for conducting your business on our site, eBay will be hosting a free listing day beginning at midnight PST tonight (12/20/00) and ending at midnight PST tomorrow (12/21/00.)
I consider midnight 12/21 to be one minute after 11:59PM 12/21(the end of the 12/21). Apparently, Ebay considers midnight 12/21 to occur one minute after after 11:59PM 12/20 (the beginning of 12/21).
So, is midnight the beginning or the end of the day? I'm talking about common usage of the word, not a technical definition.
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vargas
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posted on December 21, 2000 01:21:15 PM
The following is from Britannica:
"The solar day is the fundamental unit of time in both astronomical practice and civil life. It begins at midnight and runs through 24 hours, until the next midnight."
Ebay must have its own ways of measuring time.
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Bogalucy
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posted on December 21, 2000 01:23:15 PM
Wal now, I guiss that thar deepends upon whither er not yer a gittin' up or a gwinta bed!
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pickersangel
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posted on December 21, 2000 01:47:08 PM
I'm guessing that, although their clock displays in standard 12 hour units, the actual "measurement" is 24 hour clock time. Midnight is expressed as 0:00, and therefore is the BEGINNING of the day. The day ends after 23:59.
always pickersangel everywhere 
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mrpotatoheadd
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posted on December 21, 2000 01:53:28 PM
Using your quote:
This is a portion of the announcement posted on Ebay at 6:54PM 12/19.
As a thank you for conducting your business on our site, eBay will be hosting a free listing day beginning at midnight PST tonight (12/20/00) and ending at midnight PST tomorrow (12/21/00.)
I would read it like this...
6:54PM 12/19- time of announcement (currently tonight)
-
-
11:58PM 12/19
11:59PM 12/19
12:00AM 12/20- midnight (still tonight)- begin free listing
12:01AM 12/20
-
-
11:59AM 12/20
12:00PM 12/20- noon
12:01PM 12/20
-
-
11:58PM 12/20
11:59PM 12/20
12:00AM 12/21- midnight (tomorrow night)- end free listing
So, is midnight the beginning or the end of the day?
If it is one, it must also be the other.
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amalgamated2000
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posted on December 21, 2000 02:32:57 PM
I'm with ya on this one. I thought it was today also. I had 75 auctions ready to go. Fortunately, I figured it out before hand.
Would it have been too much trouble to tell us the date -- it will be December 20 -- or the day of the week -- anything to clarify it. Why make it so confusing?
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Glenda
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posted on December 21, 2000 04:28:48 PM
The announcement right after that one was:
*** The December 20th Free Listing Day has started! ***
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amy
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posted on December 21, 2000 04:43:49 PM
I guess this proves I'm weird but I understood the first message perfectly. To me it was obvious the free listing day was 12/20.
I always understood 12 midnight (12AM) to be the beginning of the day, and the day ended as the clock struck midnight for the next day.
So ebay said the free listing began at 12 AM (midnight) 12/20 and would end as the clock struck 12AM 12/21
Added note...when does the new year start? as the clock strikes midnight.
[ edited by amy on Dec 21, 2000 04:45 PM ]
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nycrocker
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posted on December 21, 2000 05:21:16 PM
Midnight is the middle of the day to me. Midnight is...lunchtime.
 Rocker <-- not a morning person
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reston_ray
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posted on December 22, 2000 03:51:37 AM
I thought the day ended at the end of the 23rd hour, 59th minute and 60th second (also the end of the 60th minute and 24th hour).
The end of the 60th second is also the beginning of the 1st second of the next day.
In customary usage we say tonight at midnight or last night at midnight but never this morning at midnight.
I think clocks strike in anticipation of the time they are announcing with the last strike at the exact moment of the hour but maybe someone more famaliar with clocks can provide the correct answer.
I seem to have trouble being certain what day and date it is, so this is really of little matter personally.
eBay was making an official communication to all of it's 15 million users (give or take a few NARU's) so even if they were correct but not understandable to some sizable number people I think the fault rest with them in not being clear.
Considering the scope and number of their screw-ups this ranks well down on a long, long list of the eBay Follies 2000.
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amalgamated2000
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posted on December 22, 2000 07:32:31 AM
I always understood 12 midnight (12AM) to be the beginning of the day, and the day ended as the clock struck midnight for the next day.
Then you understood wrong. There is no such thing as 12 AM. It is either 12 noon or 12 midnight. No AM or PM.
The following is a link to this very issue at the Royal Greenwich Observatory, the ultimate authority on time keeping:
http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/glimpse_cgi/mfs/apps/rog/docs/leaflets?link=http://www.rog.nmm.ac.uk/museum/faq.htm&file=/apps/rog/docs/museum/faq.htm&line=147#mfs
Unfortunately, they don't specify exactly when the date changes.
[ edited by amalgamated2000 on Dec 22, 2000 07:33 AM ]
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Birdsey
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posted on December 22, 2000 07:50:40 AM
Unfortunately, some saw the thread title that said Free Listing Day was 12/22 from a regular poster, so I would guess many assumed he was right......
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