I don’t see any display preference for it. Old threads like this: Post-v5 new features and development news show the date thus: Jan '19. Jan 2019 would be clearer. There are even older threads from years ago where it isn’t so obvious. I suppose those will be closed off with time.
My eyes aren’t what they used to be. Does the forum really need to make a fantastic saving of one character? It’s not like we have to squeeze the text onto a PCB and we work with large monitors, right? (I give UX people a hard time because it was one of my roles in the past. )