But each time there is a new post it shifts the numbers of previous posts down one. If NW54 kept the same numbers for each post then current post numbers would be in the thousands.
I don't see what the big deal is- if I want to refer to another post I just paste it's URL in- that never changes and it works every time. In fact, this method is so foolproof you can even use it to refer to a post in an entirely different forum-
http://www.network54.com/Forum/157869/message/1221511591/1929+again-