Guidelines suggest not showing the version date for a browser

[atopal]

The guidelines for Baseline usage state "Do not show a version number, whether one is provided." I can't quite remember why we wanted to do that. It's certainly true that most devs can't make sense of the version numbers anymore, but is this a requirement we need to have?

[captainbrosset]

I don't think we need this requirement.

[atopal]

Discussed in triage. "Do not" is too assertive, we should find a different way to convey that sentiment.

[ddbeck]

We should remove that text as a step (it's just a step not to do, which was pretty bad to begin with) and recharacterize it as a recommendation. Maybe after the list, do something like:

If you wish to report version numbers, avoid showing version numbers alone. Developers and users often do not know what numbers correspond to old or recent releases.

If you must show a version number, consider contextualizing that number by showing a date (e.g., "Released on…"), a relative date (e.g., "Released … years ago"), an offset (e.g., "… releases ago"), or usage statistics relevant to your audience (e.g., "…% of your visitors in the last 90 days").

[atopal]

Thank you Daniel, that is a great way to give context for why we're recommending against it and how to mitigate issues.

[ddbeck]

I've sent #2928 to close the loop on this.