Do you think articles, blogs, and sources of information on the net should have a timestamp?

Yes, I agree.

And I also agree, wholeheartedly.

People who want to be understood in the context of their times generally already do this.

On the other hand, sometimes the time is “stamped” into the work itself, and I accept that as well.

I think this is usually always done, but I agree that something which originated offline should have the date when it was created, not just when it was put online.

Yes, it would be clearer about the context as well. Most of the left wing and right wing urban legends are out of date if you check into them. Somebody bitches about something, and the readers don’t know that it was years ago. [ recent urban legend about NBC editing out “His love for Christ,” from a TV interview. ]

Definitely, I always look for a date when I read articles on the net.

I do. I’ve found it very frustrating, for example, to see a post about an event taking place on a certain day of the month, with no year given. Is it future or past? No idea. Maybe it’s coming right up, or maybe it happened six years ago.

I’ve also followed links to stories that I thought were about recent news events or announcements, only to discover—after considerable searching—that they occurred a long time ago. I feel foolish when I send someone a “Did you see this?” link and they come back and say “That happened in 2009.”

In a similar vein, I wish that all newspapers, all cities and towns, and all major parks, attractions, and notable sites that have web pages would show what state or country they’re in. Web searches often point to pages that have all kinds of information but don’t tell you what locale they’re talking about. For instance, someone mentions visiting a great park on vacation, and I look up the park website, and I can find out where all the restrooms and visitors’ facilities are, but there’s no reference to what state it’s in. Locals will know, of course—but unless a major city is mentioned, it can be amazingly hard to find out if I’m looking at a story about an event or location in Georgia or North Dakota or Ohio. Or Australia.

And while I’m at it, when I look at the website of a city or town and click on a map, I’d like it to show me not just the streets of the town but also where in the state it’s located. Sure, I can look at Google maps, but why shouldn’t a town in Texas give me at least a clue whether it’s in the north, south, east, west, or central part of the state? There’s a reasonable chance that someone from outside the town might be looking it up.

Yes.