of this proposal: Christoph Wagner
original idea: Corax
RT-OAI is a simple way to identify the Original Account that posted a RT'ed link by putting his name+RT or via in brackets: [RT @nickname]
After a Tweet gets ReTweeted multiple times, it's near impossible to find out who originally tweeted it without research. Until we have a different way for RT's to work at least the origin can be retraced.
RT-OAI is very simple to use. Simply enclose "RT @nick" in brackets whenever you RT an original (not retweeted) tweet. Clients could scan for the occurrence of "RT" or "via" to decide when to use RT-OAI.
cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee
twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee
caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee (via @twitgeridoo)
cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [via @coraxaroc]
twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [via @coraxaroc]
caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [via @coraxaroc] (via @twitgeridoo)
skipping "via" or "RT" altogether:
cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee
twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee
caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee (via @twitgeridoo)
cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [@coraxaroc]
twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [@coraxaroc]
caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: Hey, check this cool stuff: http://bit.ly/trgee [@coraxaroc] (via @twitgeridoo)
Keeping "RT" or "via" helps this being unambiguous and allows for easier adoption due to the similarity to the syntax used now. Removing "RT" or "via" saves 3 signs but might confuse users especially in the beginning and makes it a bit harder on clients to scan the tweet for the need of RT-OAI