diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS
index 9a544c51..d8dc1ac6 100644
--- a/NEWS
+++ b/NEWS
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
+  - remove ambiguity for numeric values passed to smarty_make_timestamp()
+    (and thus the date_format modifier). numeric values are treated as
+    timestamps now. (andreas, messju)
   - add passthru attribute feature to html_select_date (Sedgar,
     monte)
   - add "middle" parameter to truncate (monte)
diff --git a/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php b/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php
index acdd7773..8d3dc3ad 100644
--- a/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php
+++ b/libs/plugins/shared.make_timestamp.php
@@ -16,26 +16,28 @@
 function smarty_make_timestamp($string)
 {
     if(empty($string)) {
-        $string = "now";
+        // use "now":
+        $time = time();
+
+    } elseif (preg_match('/^\d{14}$/', $string)) {
+        // it is mysql timestamp format of YYYYMMDDHHMMSS?            
+        $time = mktime(substr($string, 8, 2),substr($string, 10, 2),substr($string, 12, 2),
+                       substr($string, 4, 2),substr($string, 6, 2),substr($string, 0, 4));
+        
+    } elseif (is_numeric($string)) {
+        // it is a numeric string, we handle it as timestamp
+        $time = (int)$string;
+        
+    } else {
+        // strtotime should handle it
+        $time = strtotime($string);
+        if ($time == -1 || $time === false) {
+            // strtotime() was not able to parse $string, use "now":
+            $time = time();
+        }
     }
-    $time = strtotime($string);
-    if (is_numeric($time) && $time != -1)
-        return $time;
+    return $time;
 
-    // is mysql timestamp format of YYYYMMDDHHMMSS?
-    if (preg_match('/^\d{14}$/', $string)) {
-        $time = mktime(substr($string,8,2),substr($string,10,2),substr($string,12,2),
-               substr($string,4,2),substr($string,6,2),substr($string,0,4));
-
-        return $time;
-    }
-
-    // couldn't recognize it, try to return a time
-    $time = (int) $string;
-    if ($time > 0)
-        return $time;
-    else
-        return time();
 }
 
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