At the start of my career after graduation, I needed to assume the role of a DNS administrator for Berkeley BIND running on SCO OpenServer. I was encouraged by

At the start of my career after graduation, I needed to assume the role of a DNS administrator for Berkeley BIND running on SCO OpenServer. I was encouraged by my ISP to use 20050101 (YYYYMMDD) as part of the zone serial number. I have used that format ever since, especially because it will sort correctly without any special handling.