An address, in the sense that matters for the tape, is not a private communication. It is a mark that can be received by those who were not its original addressees. Derrida’s account of the address (in relation to the signature, the letter, and the specter) stresses that a mark which could speak only to those who were present would not be a mark that later readers could open. The condition of its force is that it can be cited by others.

The public tape is a system of such addresses. Title, mint, lien, and conversion speak to later readers. The Third Seat’s refusal is one such address. The no is not written only to the office that issued the line. It is written to anyone who can still open the record. It stays. Persons who were not in the room can still read it.

The quiet print claims the force of an address without having become citable. It speaks to those who hold the private recollection. It does not speak to those who can open the tape. The speculative chart performs the same claim with the end. It addresses the unfinished middle as already closed. The address has not entered the record. The public book refuses both. A mark that cannot be received by later readers has not yet become an address the tape can hold.

Reception by the absent. The mark must be readable by those who were not its original addressees.

Continued citability. Later readers must be able to open the line and place it inside the sequence.

No private audience. An office cannot address an unshown claim only to those who already hold the recollection.