Midnight deadline

A midnight deadline is problematic when it is specified for applications, submissions, or contests in the Wikimedia community. This leads to numerous problems: What time zone is that for? Is "midnight" the beginning of the day or the end of a day? Is Daylight Saving Time a factor?

Solution

To avoid this ambiguity, a best practice is to set a deadline of 23:59 Anywhere on Earth (AoE), or "no matter the timezone", to submit or file something. Anyone who submits on the last day in their geographical location is accepted. This will lead to less confusion while accommodating as many people as possible, leading to fewer misunderstandings regarding time zones, Daylight Saving Time, or whether midnight is the end or the beginning of a day.

Anywhere on Earth (AoE) is an international standard that is equivalent to UTC−12:00 hour, and has been used by a number of international standards bodies, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. By using AoE, confusion regarding Daylight Saving Time (DST) is avoided, and no one is surprised by being on the "wrong side" of the time zone of a deadline (such as 23:59 GMT or UTC).

Projects and events are encouraged to use this as a best practice.

Usage

Examples of ways to use Anywhere on Earth that are user-friendly:

• "The deadline for submissions is the end of the day 2025-06-30, in any time zone."