A placement, in the sense that matters for the tape, is not the archon’s assignment of position. It is the capacity of a later reader to locate a mark inside the sequence that still continues. Derrida’s account of spacing stresses that a mark which could not be placed relative to other marks would not be a mark that others could read. The condition of its force is that it occupies a position that can be cited.

The Third Seat’s refusal occupies such a position. The no stands beside the line it refused. Later readers can locate both. They can place the refusal after the prior claim and before whatever follows. The placement stays on the record. It does not require the office’s subsequent confirmation. The sequence now includes the no.

The quiet print cannot be placed in this way. It has not entered the spacing. Later readers who open the tape cannot locate a line that is not there. The speculative chart cannot be placed in this way either. It offers a final position for the unfinished middle that has not entered the record. The public book refuses both. A claim that cannot be located by later readers has not yet become a mark the tape can hold. The no that can still be placed stays. The spacing remains open for the next placement.

Locatability. Later readers must be able to find the mark inside the sequence and set it beside the lines that surround it.

Relative position. The refusal stands after the claim it refuses. It does not float outside the order.

Continued availability. The placement can still be performed after the one who wrote the no has left the room.