Merge pull request #1970 from murchandamus/2025-09-assigned-header

BIP3: Rename Created to Assigned

Author: jonatack

bip-0003.md

@@ -112,14 +112,14 @@ appear in the following order. Headers marked with "\*" are optional. All other
 ##### Overview
 
 ```
-  BIP: <BIP number, or "?">
+  BIP: <BIP number, or "?" before assignment>
 * Layer: <Consensus (soft fork) | Consensus (hard fork) | Peer Services | API/RPC | Applications>
   Title: <BIP title (≤ 50 characters)>
   Authors: <Authors’ names and email addresses>
 * Deputies: <Deputies’ names and email addresses>
   Status: <Draft | Complete | Deployed | Closed>
   Type: <Specification | Informational | Process>
-  Created: <Date of number assignment (yyyy-mm-dd), or "?">
+  Assigned: <Date of number assignment (yyyy-mm-dd), or "?" before assignment>
   License: <SPDX License Expression>
 * Discussion: <Noteworthy discussion threads in "yyyy-mm-dd: URL" format>
 * Version: <MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH>
@@ -130,7 +130,7 @@ appear in the following order. Headers marked with "\*" are optional. All other
 
 ##### Header Descriptions
 
-* BIP — The assigned number of the BIP. Please use "?" before a number has been assigned by the BIP Editors.
+* BIP — The assigned number of the BIP (without leading zeros). Please use "?" before a number has been assigned by the BIP Editors.
 * Layer — The layer of Bitcoin the BIP applies to using the BIP classification defined in [BIP 123](bip-0123.mediawiki).
 * Authors — The names (or pseudonyms) and email addresses of all authors of the BIP. The format of each authors header
   value must be
@@ -146,6 +146,7 @@ appear in the following order. Headers marked with "\*" are optional. All other
   Authors header. See the [BIP Ownership](#bip-ownership) section above.
 * Status — The stage of the workflow of the proposal. See the [Workflow](#workflow) section below.
 * Type — See the [BIP Types](#bip-types) section below for a description of the three BIP types.
+* Assigned – The date a BIP was assigned its number. Please use "?" before a number has been assigned by the BIP Editors.
 * License — The License header specifies SPDX License Expressions describing the terms under which the
   BIP and its auxiliary files are available. See the [BIP Licensing](#bip-licensing) section below.
 * Discussion — The Discussion header points the audience to relevant discussions of the BIP, e.g., the mailing list
@@ -543,8 +544,9 @@ mentioned in the [Changelog](#changelog) section.
 - The "Superseded-By" header is replaced with the "Proposed-Replacement" header.
 - The "Post-History" header is replaced with the "Discussion" header.
 - The optional "Version" header is introduced.
-- The "Discussions-To" header is dropped as it has never been used in any BIP.
+- The "Discussions-To" header is dropped, as it has never been used in any BIP.
 - The "License-Code" header has been sunset, as it was used by only five BIPs (98, 116, 117, 330, 340) and created more ambiguity than clarity.
+- The "Created" header is renamed to "Assigned", as the header’s value is the date of number assignment.[^assigned]
 - Introduce Deputies and optional "Deputies" header.
 - The BIP "Title" header may now contain up to 50 characters (increased from 44 in BIP 2).
 - The "Layer" header is optional for Specification BIPs or Informational BIPs, as it does not make sense for all BIPs.[^layer]
@@ -613,6 +615,12 @@ feedback, and helpful comments.
 
 ## Rationale
 
+[^assigned]: **Why was the Created header renamed to Assigned?**  
+    Both BIP 1 and BIP 2 described the Created header as "date created on" in the preamble template, but followed that
+    up with "Created header records the date that the BIP was assigned a number" as the description of the field. This
+    has frequently led to confusion, with authors using the date of opening the pull request, the date they started
+    writing their proposal, the date of number assignment (as prescribed), or various other dates. Aligning the name of
+    the header and the text in the preamble template with the descriptions will reduce the confusion.
 [^capitalization]: **When is Bitcoin capitalized and when is it lowercased?**  
     This document uses capitalized Bitcoin to refer to the system, network and abstract concept, and only uses lowercase
     bitcoin to refer to units of the bitcoin currency.