I think that it is one of the big milestone things that should be done before we advance the stage, yes. Not to say that it is the only thing that would indicate that for me, or that its not being done would indicate it should not be done to me - there are a variety of other projects that would have the same milestone feel to me, for example A2050, or full implementation and automation of Night. Any of these would make it feel like a huge point in MD's history had been reached, to me.
Regarding the title docs specifically, I'm not just refering to them being sent, but to them being fully integrated - that is, people have a proper grasp on how/why to award titles, who can awarded them, and who can authorize them. As some of this is context dependent its not going to be as quick as "ttiles sent" or "titles arrived". Essentially, when Mur/Council are at the point where they feel confident that the community at large understands how to handle and react to the title docs responsibly.
This is likely to be at least two months after the first batch of title docs actually arrives, as that is when I anticipate the first few new titles to have been hashed out and sent since the first batch.
He understands that people don't think the stage should end yet, and has no problem with that - but the announcement asks for people to explain why they don't think it should end yet, so he can get a better idea of what needs to be done, from the communities perspective, before the game advances. Most of the posts upto that point just said nay with no reasons.
What Dark Demon posted afterwards was pretty much exactly what I think Chewett wanted.