Author

of this proposal: Christoph Wagner

original idea: Corax

In 140 characters:

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]

Description:

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.

Details and Use Cases:

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.

Examples  

cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey there!

twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey there!

caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: [RT @coraxaroc] Hey there! (via @twitgeridoo)

cwagner: Hey there! [via @coraxaroc]

twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: Hey there! [via @coraxaroc]

caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: Hey there! [via @coraxaroc] (via @twitgeridoo)

Alternative

skipping "via" or "RT" altogether:

cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey there!

twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey there!

caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: [@coraxaroc] Hey there! (via @twitgeridoo)

cwagner: Hey there! [@coraxaroc]

twitgeridoo: RT @cwagner: Hey there! [@coraxaroc]

caipiranha81: RT @cwagner: Hey there! [@coraxaroc] (via @twitgeridoo)

Dis- and Advantages

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