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I noticed this submission deadline for a conference listed as

January 12th 2017, 23:59, AoE

(that's not the real date, just an example). An explanation says "Anywhere on Earth". Does that mean the deadline is at the first point in time there's someplace on Earth which hits 23:59, or the last point? In other words, does Hawaii get discriminated against or for? :-)

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    Actually, there is no discrimination. The time between the announcement of the conference and the deadline is the same anywhere on earth.
    – Wrzlprmft
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 20:12
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    @Wrzlprmft Actually, there is some insignificant discrimination: if the time between the announcement and the deadline is not a whole number of days, then there will be some timezones in which a slightly greater proportion of the available time falls during the night. Commented Sep 19, 2015 at 9:21
  • @DavidRicherby I would expect any deadline to be at some fixed point in time (most often local time zone of the conference), or you'd have to check where on earth the submitter was when they submitted. So the deadline for the submitter in local time would always be different. "AoE" means the submitter has no excuse if they are late.
    – gnasher729
    Commented Jan 22, 2020 at 11:23

1 Answer 1

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This means that as long as there is a place on earth where the deadline has not yet passed, you can still submit.

Thus, it is the time zone of e.g. Baker Island: http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/usa/baker-island

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    To add to this correct answer, here is an external resource providing a definition. Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 21:34
  • Do you have to have the IP from Baker Island in order to use its timezone?
    – Ooker
    Commented Sep 19, 2015 at 10:01
  • @Ooker: No, be cause it's AoE for everyone. Otherwise, the deadline would be in your local timezone - an assumption generally avoided by specifying a timezone. Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 13:07
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    @Ooker: At least my impression was that AoE time is pretty much self-explanatory, whereas Baker island is unknown enough so I first had to check what or where it is. Maybe the inventors of AoE time thought the same. Also, "AoE time" is a timeless statement, whereas a particular location is by no means guaranteed to always have the same timezone. Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 15:08
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    @O.R.Mapper +1 for "timeless statement"
    – Ooker
    Commented Dec 10, 2015 at 15:09

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