I'm not exactly sure either. We have a lot of folks from the UK aboard, but I THINK the site is US based. As for the time, it is based on GMT, or Greenwich Mean Time. Back in the 17th or 18th century when the world was being mapped, the observatory at Greenwich, UK, was the starting point. Anything east of there is "officially" east, anything west is west. The international date line (on the opposite side of the globe) is where day one ends and day two begins.

GMT is used as a "standard" for time as well, so that ships at sea and planes in the sky have a universal reference point.

Many websites use GMT. My local time (New York City, US, Eastern Standard Time, same as yours) is also posted!