The relevancy or lack thereof of standards

When is a standard a standard? A standard is a standard when a standard body says it is.

That in a nutshell describes the situation for many standards and as far as I am concerned, I would prefer a definition that includes relevancy. "A standard is a standard when a standard body says so and when it is freely available for adoption". When a standard is not freely available, it means that the standard will not be adopted by some for monetary reasons. The consequence is that money removes relevancy from a Standard when it leads to it not being adopted.

In my mind the worst thing that can happen to a standard is that it is not adopted or ignored.

Thanks,
GerardM