danoschek: Well, there is a certain geographical factor -- miles are standard in the US, but just about nowhere else. If you wanted to speak of an international standard for measuring distances, you would refer to the metric system. Similarly, the rules which are used in international tournaments are "standard" for that very reason. It's not that they are better than other rules; some rules had to be picked, and these are the ones. "Standard" does not mean "best", it means "most commonly used or accepted" - and that is not a subjective matter but a matter of objective fact. This is why I qualified my statement be referring to tournaments only -- in casual or money play, the rules are what you make them, and there is no standard.

Another test for whether a rule is "standard" is whether you are expected to follow it without prior agreement. Most people who play for money in the US use the Jacoby Rule. In some clubs, Jacoby rule is "standard" so that if you sit down to play and don't agree otherwise, the rule is in force. This often takes me by surprise, since in my home club Jacoby was not followed unless the players agreed upon it in advance.

There is no standard without context -- "miles" is a standard unit of measurement, but only in the US. Similarly, in international tournaments, we play backgammon by the accepted international rules, including those that allow "fiddling"!