qdb

Attribution Cutoff Record V1

This document defines the immutable, signed record an operator writes to move the verified attribution cutoff.

Scope

  • Under the FORUM_VERIFIED_ATTRIBUTION site feature flag, unsigned posts and votes created before the cutoff keep counting; those created after it are unverified.

  • Without any cutoff record, the cutoff is the Created-At of the earliest operator-signed feature flag change that sets FORUM_VERIFIED_ATTRIBUTION to true. Turning the flag off and on again keeps it.

  • An operator moves the cutoff with one ASCII text file in records/attribution-cutoffs/, signed with an adjacent ASCII-armored detached OpenPGP signature. The latest valid record by Created-At (then path) wins.

  • A record counts only when its signature verifies against the named operator's key and that identity has an approval seed. A cutoff in the future is refused when written.

  • With no switch-on and no cutoff record, there is no cutoff and every unsigned item counts.

Required Headers

  • Record-ID: attribution-cutoff- followed by an ASCII record token

  • Created-At: RFC 3339 UTC timestamp

  • Cutoff-At: RFC 3339 UTC timestamp

  • Operator-Identity-ID: lowercase canonical OpenPGP identity ID

The record has no body. It must use LF line endings and end in one trailing LF.

Canonical Path Rule

  • Record: records/attribution-cutoffs/<record-id>.txt

  • Signature: records/attribution-cutoffs/<record-id>.txt.asc

  • The filename stem must exactly match Record-ID.

Example

text
Record-ID: attribution-cutoff-20261023150000-ab12cd34
Created-At: 2026-10-23T15:00:00Z
Cutoff-At: 2026-10-01T00:00:00Z
Operator-Identity-ID: openpgp:0168ff20eb09c3ea6193bd3c92a73aa7d20a0954