I tried another running version without the hyphens (or whatever they're called) and it seemed to get through.

Janet, type "jwhitworthpoet" and then immediately after that, type an @ sign. Then immediately type "talktalk.net" No spaces, no underscores.

It's unfortunate that we can't just type the address as it should look and simply show you what's correct. But if we do that, the spambots will harvest it, and John will be flooded with even more junk e-mail than he probably already gets.

If it's still not clear, e-mail me and I'll clear it up in a private note that the bots can't see.

Thanks Maryann. I thought it was some sort of special address for this contest. All solved.
Janet

Janet, _AT_ sign means this sign @

Substitute @ (the "at sign") for _AT_ with @ in the address given. And yes, do not include the end stop.

as in: 10 boxes of red thumbtacks @ .50 box = $5.00

Sorry Janet: I didn't see that there was a page 2 , and I was replying to your post at the end of page 1. Didn't see that Maryann had already replied to you.

The above seems like massive overkill, didn't mean it that way. Sorry.

Thanks Janice. I was confused by the dashes because some people use dashes like that in their email addresses. All sorted out now.

Just as an aside, the fear of spambots is way overdone. I post my real email address all the time and the sky has not fallen. Gmail has a pretty good spam filter and I actually end up seeing very little spam, though some does slip by. I imagine that most email services have decent spam filters these days. Fear of spambots was conceived back when spam filters didn't work very well and your mailbox might be filled with 100 Viagra ads a day.

My email address is bob@bookbuzz.com -- I offer this just to put my money where my mouth is.

PS-- All email to this address gets automatically routed to my gmail.

If I may indulge in some pedantry of my own, @ is now understood as "at" but it was originally the abbreviation for "each". (That's why there's not a complete circle around the "a"--it's a vestigial "e"!)

I didn't know that about each at. I learn new things every day so now I have met my quota for today. Thanks.

There is a long entry at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/At_sign (where else?)

Light verse bake off
 

John,

Pardon my newness, but I'm not sure what a bake off is. Some kind of Americanism for a knockout competition? And does the sending involve ones own verse, or a chink of Ogeeden nash, for instance?
Peter Wyton

Peter, the name is jokingly stolen from the Pillsbury Bakeoff (an actual baking contest, still running as I understand), but the principle is simply that you send in your best work of the type being judged (light verse, sonnets, translations, etc.) and the screener picks a group of finalists to be posted anonymously, on the Distinguished Guest board, on the stated days.

Then the judge comments on each, and the assembled masses do too, often trying to guess whose poem each is. Finally the judge picks his or her top three and the group votes for its own favorites.

You might look at the recent Translation Bakeoff threads on the DG board to get an idea.