diff --git a/conf/dokuwiki.php b/conf/dokuwiki.php
index f92e81e8c3e7dd322722045d396d23e71738eea3..bdc9739d1844a0c1e9b996717a28bcf84d9e12e7 100644
--- a/conf/dokuwiki.php
+++ b/conf/dokuwiki.php
@@ -155,7 +155,6 @@ $conf['broken_iua']  = 0;                //Platform with broken ignore_user_abor
 $conf['xsendfile']   = 0;                //Use X-Sendfile (1 = lighttpd, 2 = standard)
 $conf['renderer_xhtml'] = 'xhtml';       //renderer to use for main page generation
 $conf['readdircache'] = 0;               //time cache in second for the readdir operation, 0 to deactivate.
-$conf['date_at_format'] = 'Y-m-d-H:i:s';
 
 /* Network Settings */
 $conf['dnslookups'] = 1;                 //disable to disallow IP to hostname lookups
diff --git a/doku.php b/doku.php
index 6673d2d66aa1de5286091f246148ba681c6b39d9..f4309d122698f339f84321ab185f346c9334094c 100644
--- a/doku.php
+++ b/doku.php
@@ -50,13 +50,16 @@ $SUM = $INPUT->post->str('summary');
 
 
 //parse DATE_AT
-if($DATE_AT && $conf['date_at_format']) {
-    $date_o = DateTime::createFromFormat($conf['date_at_format'],$DATE_AT);
-    if(!$date_o) {
-        msg(sprintf($lang['unable_to_parse_date'], $DATE_AT,$conf['date_at_format']));
-        $DATE_AT = null;
-    } else {
-        $DATE_AT = $date_o->getTimestamp();
+if($DATE_AT) {
+    $date_parse = strtotime($DATE_AT);
+    if($date_parse) {
+        $DATE_AT = $date_parse;
+    } else { // check for UNIX Timestamp
+        $date_parse = @date('Ymd',$DATE_AT);
+        if(!$date_parse || $date_parse === '19700101') {
+            msg(sprintf($lang['unable_to_parse_date'], $DATE_AT));
+            $DATE_AT = null;
+        }
     }
 }
 
@@ -64,16 +67,16 @@ if($DATE_AT && $conf['date_at_format']) {
 if($DATE_AT) {
     $pagelog = new PageChangeLog($ID);
     $rev_t = $pagelog->getLastRevisionAt($DATE_AT);
-    if($rev_t === '') {
-        $REV = '';
-    } else if ($rev_t === false) {
+    if($rev_t === '') { //current revision
+        $REV = null;
+        $DATE_AT = null;
+    } else if ($rev_t === false) { //page did not exist
         $rev_n = $pagelog->getRelativeRevision($DATE_AT,+1);
-        if($conf['date_at_format']) {
-            msg(sprintf($lang['page_nonexist_rev'], date($conf['date_at_format'],$DATE_AT),date($conf['date_at_format'],$rev_n)));
-        } else {
-            msg(sprintf($lang['page_nonexist_rev'], $DATE_AT,$rev_n));
-        }
-        $REV = $DATE_AT;
+        msg(sprintf($lang['page_nonexist_rev'], 
+            strftime($conf['dformat'],$DATE_AT),
+            wl($ID, array('rev' => $rev_n)),
+            strftime($conf['dformat'],$rev_n)));
+        $REV = $DATE_AT; //will result in a page not exists message
     } else {
         $REV = $rev_t;
     }
diff --git a/inc/lang/en/lang.php b/inc/lang/en/lang.php
index 9215a3f1d4f052839df3c91c34585e70e1e9b7ad..b8d5b2280ae27362fdc46b627bd333502334cfdc 100644
--- a/inc/lang/en/lang.php
+++ b/inc/lang/en/lang.php
@@ -367,6 +367,6 @@ $lang['currentns']             = 'Current namespace';
 $lang['searchresult']          = 'Search Result';
 $lang['plainhtml']             = 'Plain HTML';
 $lang['wikimarkup']            = 'Wiki Markup';
-$lang['page_nonexist_rev']     = 'Page did not exist at %s. It was subsequently created at %s.';
-$lang['unable_to_parse_date']  = 'Unable to parse at parameter "%s" with format "%s".';
+$lang['page_nonexist_rev']     = 'Page did not exist at %s. It was subsequently created at <a href="%s">%s</a>.';
+$lang['unable_to_parse_date']  = 'Unable to parse at parameter "%s".';
 //Setup VIM: ex: et ts=2 :
diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php b/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
index 3fc9c292024afc7612116100625918c3dff6b033..5e5218aff9d67c4cd0487cbf3c98cc45959bcc98 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
+++ b/lib/plugins/config/lang/en/lang.php
@@ -172,7 +172,6 @@ $lang['xsendfile']   = 'Use the X-Sendfile header to let the webserver deliver s
 $lang['renderer_xhtml']   = 'Renderer to use for main (xhtml) wiki output';
 $lang['renderer__core']   = '%s (dokuwiki core)';
 $lang['renderer__plugin'] = '%s (plugin)';
-$lang['date_at_format'] = 'Date at format (see PHP\'s <a href="http://www.php.net/manual/datetime.formats.php">datetime.formats</a> information). If empty UNIX timestamp format will be used.';
 
 /* Network Options */
 $lang['dnslookups'] = 'DokuWiki will lookup hostnames for remote IP addresses of users editing pages. If you have a slow or non working DNS server or don\'t want this feature, disable this option';
diff --git a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
index 5cd09a8cbc58ac0262b11407b7e089bcdcb3910a..aaa32cd70b9b15ca2210817d1548a93cc59af00e 100644
--- a/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
+++ b/lib/plugins/config/settings/config.metadata.php
@@ -209,7 +209,6 @@ $meta['broken_iua']  = array('onoff');
 $meta['xsendfile']   = array('multichoice','_choices' => array(0,1,2,3),'_caution' => 'warning');
 $meta['renderer_xhtml'] = array('renderer','_format' => 'xhtml','_choices' => array('xhtml'),'_caution' => 'warning');
 $meta['readdircache'] = array('numeric');
-$meta['date_at_format'] = array('string');
 
 $meta['_network']    = array('fieldset');
 $meta['dnslookups']  = array('onoff');