iCal/ICS Calendar Subscription - Incorrectly Displaying in Zulu Time on GoDaddy Website

Scoutbook New Calendar Bugs
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Hello! I am a new user and a first time poster here, so please let me know if this is better addressed in another manner or somewhere else. However, I just found this discord discussion in trying to help our local Cub Scout Pack troubleshoot a new issue that has recently popped up in the way (incorrect time offset) that display on our pack’s website calendar (via GoDaddy – Events), which the data comes from the following Scoutbook iCal/ICS link (note that this is not my area of expertise, so please pardon any incorrect nomenclature):

https://api.scouting.org/advancements/events/calendar/120854

Here are the correct dates/times (mountain time zone) at the Scoutbook Calendar source:

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Everything with this has worked PERFECTLY until about a week ago (?), when we noticed that the times on the GoDaddy website now appear to be displaying at ZULU (rather than Mountain). In my hours of research, I just found this discussion board and it looks like there may be a lot of ‘tweaking’ going on with the Scoutbook Calendar functionality that could have affected this, most recently:

So, for example, the upcoming 6 pm 2/6 Bounce Empire Fundraiser is now showing on the website as 1 am on 2/7 (which is the +7 conversion from Mountain Time Zone to Zulu):

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Here is what our pack website now (incorrectly) shows:

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I know very little about how iCal/ICS subscribed calendars work, but from what I can tell in the .ICS file (link: https://api.scouting.org/advancements/events/calendar/120854), it DOES properly include the time zone information, but for some reason, GoDaddy is no longer honoring this and using Z instead? Or, some of the recent Scoutbook calendar changes are causing the problem? The calendar link/file of course displays CORRECTLY when you try to add/import it into anything like Outlook, Google, IOS Calendar, etc. (because they are all smart enough to adjust to the user time zone?), but from everything I can tell, GD has no way to ‘apply’ a time zone to a website (unless maybe I could find where they have the code and then manually modify that?).

Text Excerpt from the Attached ICS Calendar Code for 2/6 Event:

BEGIN:VEVENT
UID:5513970@scoutbook.scouting.org
DTSTAMP:20240129T214308Z
ORGANIZER;CN=Braun Mincher:MAILTO:braun@braunmincher.com
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20240206T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20240206T210000
SUMMARY:Bounce Empire Private Fundraiser Event for Black Rock Elementary School
LOCATION:Bounce Empire, 1380 S. Public Road, Lafayette, Colorado 80026

In any event, I have racked my brain and am hopeful that this is the correct place to get some knowledgeable assistance. Thank you in advance and let me know if there is any additional information I can provide to be helpful.

Regards,

Braun Mincher
Assistant Volunteer Den Leader (Tigers)
Erie Cub Scout Pack #516 :fleur_de_lis:
Office: (970) 212-7201
Email: Braun@BraunMincher.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Pack516Erie
Website: www.Pack516Erie.org

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Upon further searching the discussion forums, it looks like a similar issue was reported last fall here:

However, since that topic is closed, I am not exactly sure what was done to resolve it? @ChristopherCamacho may I please ask for any ‘pearls of wisdom’ you may be able to share, as it looks like you use the same GoDaddy setup as us (www.pack516erie.org) and [thankfully] your Troop Calendar is displaying perfectly:

https://troop230.net/troop-calendar

May I please also ask for some clarification on the “ICS” vs “IA” (?) versions you mentioned, as I am not familiar with the differences? Thank you in advance!

Obviously, we would just like to implement whatever fix worked for you on our GoDaddy displayed website!

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Ok, so I am now also learning that there is apparently a big migration in place from the existing “scoutbook” calendar platform to something new called “Internet Advancement” (or ‘IA’), is this a correct understanding?

I have also been reviewing this documentation regarding the Internet Advancement Calendar:

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And, have verified that BOTH the legacy Scoutbook and IA seem to have the correct time zone settings for our pack (which continues to make me ask WHY are they showing as UTC / Zulu when displayed as a website calendar via GoDaddy?):

FWIW, I have verified that BOTH have the correct time zone settings for our pack as you can see here:

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Thanks in advance to the community for any insight that may be able to be offered which will help us resolve our UTC time display issue on the GoDaddy website here:

So, that we can have the correct times like Troop 230 on their calendar:

https://troop230.net/troop-calendar

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@BraunMincher - since you noted that the ics works in other calendar subscription settings i suggest that someone wirk wuth godaddy on the issue.

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Hi @Stephen_Hornak! Thanks for your feedback. I only wish the solution were that simple! I have already invested countless HOURS with @GoDaddy support trying to troubleshoot this. Not only are they completely unhelpful, they just want to point fingers back to the Scoutbook source and/or suggest we move to a Google Calendar, which is not practical (or something we even want to consider). I have extensively tried using their online self-help ( knowledge base), AI, live chat (India) and even got a supervisor on the phone in the Philippines, all without any progress. In addition to providing an overall poor support experience, the real problem with GoDaddy is that nobody I have interacted with (so far) actually knows how shared / subscribed calendars work (or will take the time to learn / test with me). All they do is read their Wiki and keep sending me the following link which is not helpful:

Despite my best efforts to isolate and troubleshoot myself, I cannot clearly tell if the issue lies with GoDaddy or Scoutbook, and as I said before, everything worked PERFECTLY up until last week (at least when we noticed). As I am seeing more here about all of the ongoing changes happening with the calendar system, it gives me some concern that the issue may lie there instead, but I remain open to all options, and obviously just want to get this fixed for the benefit of the pack I am trying to help.

By posting this thread, my hope is/was to get some input from a.) those who oversee / implement the ongoing calendar changes, such as @edavignon, @suacinformation or others; and, b.) from others like @ChristopherCamacho who have previously reported the same problem and obviously found a way to fix it (I just want to know “how”):

https://troop230.net/troop-calendar

Any and all additional help from the community here is graciously welcome. Thank you.

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Are you presently using the ics link from Scoutbook or Internet Advancement? Can I suggest you try the other one as a troubleshooting step if nothing else?

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Hi @jacobfetzer and thank you for your response. The short answer is “yes,” I have tried using both the links from [legacy] Scoutbook and also [the newer] Internet Advancement platforms with the same results, though I am still not completely clear on the differences or migration plan/timing (and would think that the data comes from the same database, as someone else mentioned).

In any event, I actually setup a complete dummy sandbox environment at GoDaddy just to test the different calendar links:

Using ICS Link from Scoutbook: Scout Calendar

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Using ICS Link from IA Platform: Internet Advancement | Braun's Test Website

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Any additional help, isolation or troubleshooting from the community is graciously welcome. As I mentioned, it looks like at least one other group had the same problems in the past, so I am still curious how they resolved it?

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@BraunMincher - it appears that the troop that had the issue is using the scoutbook ics subscription links. If you click on the event details that is what it shows.

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Agreed, but what exactly did they (Troop 230) do to fix it, as it seems to display proper times now? This is the million dollar question!

https://troop230.net/troop-calendar

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https://community.godaddy.com/s/question/0D58W000089NPgoSAG/synced-google-calendar-4-hours-different-when-displayed-on-godaddy-site

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And, just to be clear, I am also trying to use the (same?) ICS links as them (but for our pack) but it is NOT working for me when displayed via the GoDaddy website, meaning that it is somehow getting converted to UTC / Zulu times, which is +7 hours from us here in the Denver area. Here are the ICS links I am using:

Scoutbook Calendar: https://scoutbook.scouting.org/ics/120854.CF3C5.ics

IA Calendar: https://api.scouting.org/advancements/events/calendar/120854

I setup tests for both in this sandbox website (and both incorrectly show the times in UTC):

Scoutbook ICS display to GoDaddy: Scout Calendar

IA ICS display to GoDaddy: Internet Advancement | Braun's Test Website

Again, I have verified that both SB and IA have the correct Mountain time settings and have even verified that the ICS files are tagging this. The events obviously show the correct time zone when viewed directly in SB or IA, so I am stumped and am grateful for any help I can get at this point:

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@BraunMincher - take a look at what Donovan posted

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Thank you @DonovanMcNeil – this is an excellent idea, and feels like the right track (which I have unsuccessfully been trying to figure out how to do/check for the past few days). However, it is important to note that our Pack (and most other Packs/Troops) are using the generic GoDaddy “Website Builder” (now called “Websites + Marketing,” I think), and for the life of me, I cannot figure out how to access the “Server Manager” for that via GoDaddy – instead, they have a much more slimmed down interface:

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Also, the “help” suggestions provided by GoDaddy in that other link only relate to the time zone for APPOINTMENTS setup via their website (which, best I can tell, has nothing do do with the calendar display time). Regardless, I have already checked that multiple times:

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I am not an expert on GoDaddy website hosting, so if anyone else is, I would be happy to either do a live screen share and/or share access. Thank you all in advance.

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Just for troubleshooting and isolation purposes, does anyone else have a GoDaddy account they can try to setup a “Calendar Display” with using either or both of my ICS links above to see what happens (and, if they can find a solution to fix it)? To clarify, we are just using the simple GoDaddy “Website Builder” (now called W+M), rather than creating the website ourselves and then only having GoDaddy “host” it.

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Thank you; I just responded to him below. Any additional insight is welcome.

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Ok, HOLD THE PHONE… I may be on to something! I will explain details once I test further, but at this point the ICS LINK (via Scoutbook), DOES SEEM TO BE WORKING PROPERLY – YEAH:

https://scoutbook.scouting.org/ics/120854.CF3C5.ics

Here is the test website showing the correct calendar display:

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Stay tuned and thanks to all for the help! Fingers crossed this may be resolved.

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@BraunMincher - our unit only uses godaddy to host a landing page for our units which are google sites and use the subscription for the embedded google calendar. All of which use the IA ics and have no issues. Beyond that tjis is not a venue for support of products outside of the bsa properties.

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Pleased to share that the time zone display issue (using the GoDaddy calendar) appears to now be RESOLVED and can be verified here at our Pack’s event link:

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While I am still digging to determine exactly how and why this problem happened, in an effort to document here for someone else who may encounter a similar issue in the future, let me say that ONLY the .ICS file/link from the [legacy] Scoutbook seems to work properly (i.e. honor the correct time zone tagging). I am still not clear of the plan to migrate to the [new] “IA” (Internet Advancement) calendar platform, but from what I can see now, the calendar link from there (which is API versus ICS?), DOES NOT APPEAR to contain the proper TZ tagging (and instead just defaults to UTC / Zulu time)?

My speculation is that the “new” IA platform is still in development (but have not really had the time to read / research much about that), but my hope would be that as part of the development process for that platform, the developers ultimately implement the industry-standard TZ tagging to the calendar links (though I think that most calendar platforms like Google, Apple/IOS, Outlook, etc. are smart enough to automatically make any needed adjustments).

Thanks to all who offered their help here – I appreciate it very much.

Braun

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Not to beat a dead horse here, but in doing some more digging, I think that I have identified the source of the time zone problem, and wanted to provide some details here both to document it for anyone else and also in hopes that the IA developers might read this and ultimately implement a fix. In short, the “ICS” link code from the legacy version of Scoutbook DOES correctly contain Time Zone (TZ) information, but the “API” link file from the newer IA (Internet Advancement) platform calendar does NOT, and instead only uses “Z” (Zulu / UTC). I think that most calendar programs (i.e. Apple/IOS, Google Calendar, Outlook, etc.) are smart enough to adjust for this, but when using something like “Calendar Display” from GoDaddy on website, the data is just “raw,” meaning that it incorrectly displays as UTC/Zulu (which in our case is Mountain Time +7 hours right now).

Here is a small string of the code from the link downloaded from the IA calendar (note the “Z” for Zulu):

DTSTART:20230201T013000Z
DTEND:20230201T030000Z
SUMMARY:Pack 516 Monthly Pack Meeting

Here is a similar excerpt of the code from the legacy Scoutbook Calendar link (note the TZID and no trailing Z):

ORGANIZER;CN=Braun Mincher
DTSTART;TZID=America/Denver:20240206T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/Denver:20240206T210000