STD Numbers and the IETF Standards Track

STD numbers are assigned to IETF Standards Track specifications in order to provide a stable reference even when RFCs are revised and the underlying documents change. However, the numbers are only assigned when the specifications reach Internet Standard maturity level, significantly reducing their utility in the contemporary world in which few specifications advance beyond the first standardization maturity level. For that reason, one proposal, more than a decade ago, suggested eliminating the numbers entirely. Others, including more recent ones, have suggested eliminating maturity levels entirely, in part as a way to solve the numbering problem. This document argues that stable references for Standards Track specifications are actually useful and that the solution is not to abolish the numbers or maturity levels but to change the point at which they are assigned.