Two things that look the same

Pairs people confuse on Nexus Market, and the one test between them

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nexusb2l7fmqnefwphyy7m5zjhlkytlbo7qbb5lu5dlczr3azgii2gyd.onion
nexusma2iegzo7atzwbrwxhcdopyri3vare2twibldnlc3txqjdeb5yd.onion
nexusabcdpvtnivv6owtqjkvd22k5x3hlpofkgjqjmgzltlde6mwe2qd.onion

Published as supplied. Nothing here is monitored, so none of this is a claim that any address opens right now.

Words / Pair 36 of 41

The same clean result, months apart

Nothing in a signed block tells you when it was written or whether it still stands. Reusing a true old notice is the ordinary way a signature gets turned against a reader.

Signatures do not carry a clock

An old signed statementA

Genuine, and overtaken by events

Written by the key holder, correctly signed, and true on the day it was made. Since then the addresses in it may have been retired or the offer withdrawn. Nothing in the block ages, so it presents itself exactly as it did on day one.

A current oneB

Genuine, and still standing

Also written by the key holder, also correctly signed, and describing the position as it is now. From the outside the two are the same object. What differs sits in the world, not in the file.

A signed block is a fixed run of characters. Copy it anywhere, a month later or a year later, and it verifies just as well. That portability is the whole point of signing, and it is also the reason a reposted statement is such a comfortable thing to hide behind.

Any time your software shows alongside the signature was supplied by the machine that made the signature. It was typed in by the same side you are trying to check, so it is a claim rather than a measurement. Treat it as part of the message, not as evidence about the message.

Where the confusion starts

Almost nobody forges signatures. They do not have to. An old statement that was true when written is far easier to work with, and it comes pre-verified. Somebody lifts it, drops it into a new place beside a fresh sentence of their own, and the reader checks the block, sees it pass, and carries the confidence over to the fresh sentence that was never signed by anyone.

There is a decent way to anchor yourself and it does not involve trusting anybody. A statement that refers to something you know happened recently cannot have been written before that thing happened. Read the text for those hooks. A mention of a change you lived through, a reference to a policy you know arrived in the spring, a number that only makes sense after a certain point. None of that is proof of freshness, but it does put a floor under the age of the words, and a floor is more than you had.

Reading the date the signer wrote

Find a date inside the signed text

The only date worth anything is one the signer typed inside the signed region, so read the text itself rather than anything around it.

  1. Read the signed text from the header line to the footer line and look for a date, a month, or a numbered notice the signer wrote in themselves.
  2. Check that the date is inside those boundaries and not in the post that carries the block. Anything outside was written by whoever reposted it.
  3. Weigh the date against what you know changed since. A statement dated before a change you are aware of cannot be describing the position after it.

If no date sits inside the text, the statement is undated for good and there is no reading of it that makes it fresh. That is not a fault in your checking. It is a fault in the statement, and the honest handling is to treat it as saying only what it says, with no bearing on today.

Which way round hurts more

If you treat a current statement as old
You ignore a real notice and keep using something the operator has moved on from. You may find out slowly, through an order that goes nowhere. Recoverable, mostly.
If you treat an old statement as current
You act on a position that was abandoned. If the statement named a payment destination, you have just sent money somewhere nobody is collecting from, or somewhere the wrong person is.
If it is old
Set it aside as history and stop drawing conclusions from it. If you need the present position, ask the operator through a channel you already use and wait for something dated.
If it is current
Use it, and note the date somewhere you will see it again. A statement you accepted in March is an old statement by June, without changing a character.

Questions readers send about this pair

Does a signature expire?

A key can carry an expiry and a signature can be checked against it, but the statement itself does not expire. Text that verified last year will verify next year. Freshness is a separate matter and only the signer can put it in writing.

Someone posted a signed message today. Does that make it today message?

No. The posting is today. The writing could be from any time, and the poster need not be the writer at all. Look inside the signed region for a date.

What if the operator never dates anything?

Then no statement of theirs can be aged from the outside, and you should treat every one of them as saying nothing about the current position. Asking for a dated line is reasonable and costs you nothing.

Every page here

AddressesGetting inMoneyOrdersPeopleWordsDown for now, or finished for goodOld address, or one built to be misreadSame page at two addresses, and only one is theirsThe redirect and the string it stands in forYour path through Tor, or the far endDid the set move, or did your copy slipLoading proves a server answered, and nothing moreRate limiting against a password that no longer matchesWhen the puzzle is broken and when the reader isA door you shut yourself against a lock somebody changedLogged out by a clock against logged out by a decisionA code that does not match against a clock that does notAn absence against a single character out of placeA wait somebody planned against a wait nobody didA deposit that is slow, or a deposit that is goneThe address expired, or it was never issued to youA rule about release, or a decision about youWho took the difference, the operator or the networkA saving on quantity, or a saving on protectionMoney back, or the end of the argumentStill moving, or already refusedStill settling, or short by a fractionA date with something behind it, and a date withoutOne request moves a clock, the other moves the moneyAsking for a ruling, or handing over informationA word in a database, and an event in a recordNothing new to report is not the same as bad newsA rule that runs by itself, and a date somebody prefersSilence and being ignored look identicalQuiet is not the same as goneFeedback tells you a mood, evidence tells you a factWhat a signature actually provesThe market only speaks in one placeAn empty history and a claimed historyThe result is good. Whose key was it?The same clean result, months apartYou cannot check an image, however clear it isOne of these strings was chosen by somebodyPosted where, and written by whomWho granted it, and what were they promisingTwo lists of addresses, two different guaranteesHow to read a pairEvery pairThe testsThe costsMirrorsQuestions