[Grammar] 2 March 2004 - RonBee becomes first member to submit 5,000 posts

[kadioguy]

From some facts that 5jj discovered:

[...]

2 March 2004 - RonBee becomes first member to submit 5,000 posts

24 March 2004 - 20,000th post submitted

4 May 2004 - membership reaches 2,000

17 June 2004 - Shane joins the mods team (last active January 2006)

13 March 2006 - Mr Pedantic joins the mod team (last active February 2011)

[...]

https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/288750-UE-History
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As you can see, the present simple, rather than the past simple, is used. Could you tell me why? Aren't they in the past? What type of present simple is this?

 

[5jj]

It's sometimes called the historic present. The unmarked /present simple tense is often used to list a sequence of past-time events.

 

[kadioguy]

It's sometimes called the historic present. The unmarked /present simple tense is often used to list a sequence of past-time events.

What do you mean by the 'unmarked' tense?

 

[5jj]

The unmarked tense is the name some writers use for the tense that others call the present simple.

 

[Tdol]

Aren't they in the past?

In English, time and tense are not 100% related. We can use the past tense to talk about the present or future time.

 

[kadioguy]

24 March 2004 - 20,000th post submitted

If I had to expand it to a sentence, which one would be appropriate?

1. 24 March 2004 - 20,000th post is submitted.

2. 24 March 2004 - 20,000th post has been submitted.

I'd use sentence (1). What do you think?

 

[5jj]

I agree, but would begin the sentence with 'The'. 'Was' would be possible if I had used the marked/past simple tense throughout.
(2) is incorrect.