this is because on my machine, the softlink is as follows:
lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 38 Jan 14 09:01 /etc/localtime -> ../usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
so this causes the default answer in the prompt to be as follows:
please enter your preferred timezone: ..America/New_York
this is because on my machine, the softlink is as follows: lrwxrwxrwx. 1 root root 38 Jan 14 09:01 /etc/localtime -> ../usr/share/zoneinfo/America/New_York
so this causes the default answer in the prompt to be as follows: please enter your preferred timezone: ..America/New_York