A signature, for Derrida, is not the unique presence of a signer. It is an iterable mark. It must be able to function in the absence of the one who wrote it, and it must be able to be repeated. The condition of its force is that it can be detached from the moment of its inscription and still be recognized. A signature that could not be read later would not be a signature.

The public tape is a system of iterable marks. Title, mint, lien, and conversion must remain readable after the office that wrote them has moved on. The Third Seat’s refusal is one such mark. The no is not a private intention. It is a line that stays on the record and can still be opened by later readers. A refusal that expired when the person left the room would not be a refusal the tape could hold.

The quiet print breaks iterability in the other direction. It claims the force of a signature without having entered the system that would make it readable in the absence of the office that issued it. The claim is treated as binding. It cannot be detached and re-read by the others. The speculative chart performs a similar break in time. It offers a final identification that would no longer need to be re-read once the end has been named. The Third Seat keeps the mark iterable. The no stays. It can still be read.

Detachment. The mark must be able to function after the moment of its writing. A private announcement does not meet the condition.

Re-readability. Later readers must be able to open the line. The refusal that stays on the tape meets this requirement. The quiet print does not.

No final close. An identification that would make further reading unnecessary has left the system of iterable marks.