I have the following:
--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(setq gnus-user-date-format-alist '(((gnus-seconds-today) . " %k:%M")
((+ (gnus-seconds-today) (* 24 3600)) . "
%l %p")
(604800 . " %a")
(31536000 . "%e %b")
(t . " %Y")))
(setq gnus-summary-line-format "%1{%U%R%O %4k%}
%3{%&user-date;%*%uj│%}%I%(%-16,16f%) %5{%s%}\n")
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---
which presents the date in more refined detail the newer the post is.
Very old posts show just the year; newer ones the month and day; even
newer the day and time; and the newest with the time alone.
The %1, %3, and %5 refer to faces used by the summary line.
As always in Emacs, "help" is your friend. Try "M-x describe-variable"
for each of those two variables above.
--
Eric S Fraga via gnus (Emacs 31.0.50 2025-01-06) on Debian 12.8
