Starting with metamath.exe version 0.142
http://us2.metamath.org:88/index.html#mmprogthe redundant dates below the proofs are no longer checked nor used for anything.
If someone is using the dates for another purpose, let me know. Otherwise I will delete them from
set.mm in a few days, reducing the
set.mm size by 850kB.
"save new_proof" and "save proof" now add the "(Contributed by ...)" date automatically to a theorem's comment if it is missing, provided the proof is complete. The default contributor is called "?who?", which can be updated with a global edit to replace it with your name. "verify markup */f" will warn if any "?who?"s aren't updated. Since this is a trivial edit, needed only once before a GitHub submission, I don't plan to add a "set contributor" command unless there is a clamoring demand for yet another command to remember.
If you work by manually pasting proofs into
set.mm, then when you are done you can run "save proof */c/f" to add all missing contributor dates, followed by a global edit replacing "?who?" with your name.
Norm