[John Whitworth]

I have had a PM from Janice asking how exactly you enter the Light Verse Bake-off. What you do is to send your piece of Light Verse by e mail, either in the body of the email or as an attachment, to me at

jwhitworthpoetAT_SIGN_HEREtalktalk.net.

OK?

[Maryann Corbett]

John, is there a cut-off date?

[Julie Steiner]

Yes. For some of us, the Muse only drops by at the very last minute, so we need to know which minute that will be. GMT.

[Stephen Collington]

Hi John,

I hope you won't mind, but I've taken the liberty of editing your post above to modify the email link. If you use your "raw" email address on a web page, you're setting yourself up for a huge spike in spam volume.

Anyway, just in case anyone's not clear, the phrase AT_SIGN_HERE of course is to be replaced with the usual @ sign when entering John's address in your email program. (You see, I can say that here: the automated spam bots don't actually understand real English, they just copy the address and start mailing you . . . well you know the rest.)

Again, John, forgive me if this seems like an intrusion. But I thought I'd make the change right away, before too many of our electronic visitors cottoned on to you.

Steve C.

[John Whitworth]

Thank you, Stephen, I'm sure you are right. I am ashamed to say I don't know the cut-off date. I'm sure I was told, probably by Tim Murphy, but I have forgotten. Can anyone help?

[Tim Murphy]

John, you can issue your "Call for Light Verse" on the three po boards anytime, now that we've completed the translation bake-off. In "Upcoming" I'd said we'd do light verse Sept 1, so now would probably be a good time. Pick your own cut-off date, and allow yourself a few days to sift and critique your finalists.

[Janet Kenny]

Originally Posted by John Whitworth

I have had a PM from Janice asking how exactly you enter the Light Verse Bake-off. What you do is to send your piece of Light Verse by e mail, either in the body of the email or as an attachment, to me at

jwhitworthpoetAT_SIGN_HEREtalktalk.net.

OK?

My email server says the address is invalid. I can't make out what is meant. Are the caps CAPS?
For others, leave off the stop at the end. I knew that much.
Sign here is part of the address?
Sorry to be stupid.

[Janet Kenny]

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

[Maryann Corbett]

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.

[Janet Kenny]

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