Using the Timestamp Feature in WordPress
Using WordPress’s timestamp feature is really easy. Just edit the timestamp to the date and time you want your post to appear and then hit “Publish.” That’s assuming, of course, you’ve already written the post, which would obviously be the first step.
If you’re used to writing posts and then publishing them right away, you have to be a bit more careful with your timestamped posts.
Date & Time
Be mindful of when you plan on scheduling your post to appear. For example, I am writing this at 1:20 a.m. on Monday morning and this will be posted to the blog on Tuesday morning. If I refer to something that happened yesterday (Sunday), my readers will think I’m referring to something that happened Monday. Likewise, tomorrow means Wednesday to you, but right now it’s Tuesday to me. This is something you need to watch carefully when timestamping your posts. Alternatively, instead of using imprecise terms, you can refer to the precise day, i.e., “Wednesday” instead of “tomorrow.”
Of course, you will still need to be careful with “today.” It would be awkward to refer to “Tuesday” when the day is Tuesday. The reader will not be sure if you’re referring to the present day or next Tuesday. It’s best to use “today” to refer to the day the post is appearing. Just be careful not to mix your “today” (the day you are writing) with your readers’ today (the day the post appears). In some cases, that can cause great confusion!
Notification?
Should you notify your readers that the post was previously written? That’s up to you. In many cases, it’s probably not important. Magazines have articles that were written weeks or months in advance. They don’t typically date their articles with the day it was written.
In some cases, you may not want people to know you’re away, especially if anyone who reads your blog might know where you live. Don’t just think of your blogging friends. Unless your blog is password-protected, anyone could be reading it. Saying “I’m in Cancun!” could be a bad move. Didn’t you previously mention you didn’t have a security system? Or you have no friends to watch your house? Be careful out there!
The flip side of that is keeping your blog updated, even when you’re away from your computer, can keep the appearance up that you are still at home, typing away madly at your computer. Think the lack of comments will be noticed? Apologize. Sorry I’ve been too busy to reply to your comments, but I’ve been busy, busy, busy! I’ll reply as soon as I can!
The Downside
The downside of timestamped posts, especially if you’re away and cannot undo them, is the risk of appearing insensitive. I once commented on someone else’s blog that I didn’t like driving across bridges, unaware that a bridge had collapsed that same day.
There’s an old joke about how you would like to die peacefully in your sleep like your grandfather, not yelling and screaming like the passengers in his car. That may be amusing, but having it appear on your blog the same day one of your blogging friends posts about his grandfather and others dying in an automobile accident is going to appear very insensitive, especially if your post appears after his.
Don’t think that’s limited to jokes either. A report blaming the elderly for X number of traffic fatalities per year is probably not going to be much better.
It would be best to keep such topics for when you are blogging live. That way, you can either hold off on such a post or at least be able to express your regrets to your friend and suggest he not read your post and point out it was previously written and was not intended as commentary on his situation. In that vein, I apologize in advance if such a thing has happened on the day this post is appearing!
On the other hand, if you’ve decided on notifying your readers that you’ll be away and that posts were previously written, you can defuse any appearances of insensitivity that way. It will still be awkward, but your readers will know (and hopefully understand!) that you weren’t being mean-spirited.
In any event, timestamping can be a very useful feature in WordPress. Use it wisely!
The time stamp is one of the features that I use a lot, especially on my Daily Chronicles of the American Civil War blog and Anecdotes and Images of the American Civil War blog. On each, I try to have at least one post a day, but I try to “pre-load” them well in advance. For this kind of application, publishing public domain material from the 19th century, pre-posting gets the work done and out of the way so that I can concentrate on something else. Right now, I am working on getting 2 months worth of material “pre-loaded” so that I have a lull where I can concentrate on other stuff. The hazard there is forgetting when the “load” runs out.