Since it sounds like this is an item that is likely to be changed in the next version....

I'd like to suggest that the date choice be a USER preference and not a coder/module/site preference. Let them set it in their preferences with a site default set by the webmaster for those that don't care. That way each user can see the date in their native format.

Can't remember who and where but someone made a test and there are so much different date's formats that it seems quite impossible