A key that has an introduction but no chain of approvals yet is pending. Its nanopublications are stored and readable, but they do not count where the publisher matters: the person's roles in spaces show but do not take effect, and their contributions do not appear in content restricted to members.

A key that the round has examined and found no path for is marked as skipped. The difference is only in time: an approval published later moves it into the trusted set on a following round. Nothing is ever permanently rejected.