[Cloudrunner]

If you are inputting the date directly into the database, then simply use

NOW()

in place of a variable.

for example for an insert statement:

INSERT INTO forum (id,date,whatever) VALUES ('1', NOW(), 'whatever');

For an update statement:

UPDATE forum SET id = '1', date = NOW(), whatever = 'whatever' WHERE id = '1';

then simply write your script in PHP to translate the date / time stamp into a more asthetic view.

What format MySQL uses will be determined by the column type. i.e. a 'DATE' type will only give today's date, whereas a datetime type will give a hash comprised of the date, and current time down to the second.