Hi Graham.

On Monday January 15 1996, Graham Cotterell wrote to All ...

 GC> I think a statment like `roger{at}tgw.apana.org.au' is an address to send
 GC> something to a an certain person..

Yes, it's an Internet email address.

 GC> If it is is, how is it arrived at?

Through dynamic routing via the Internet. All you need to worry about is
the address and how to actually compose a message. Let's break the bugger
down:

Roger is this person's user ID (aka account name). The {at} means
"at" (as in, part of his address). tgw.apana.org.au is the domain
suffix. twg is probably the name of a local BBS which is receiving its mail
from the APANA network.
APANA is the Australian Public Access Network Association. The .org denotes
that this provider is an ORGanisation. Finally, the .au means that
Australia
is the country in which this provider is located.

My Internet email address was (is) japp{at}ozemail.com.au. When I was working
for OzEmail, that was my account. Since I virtually never use it, it was
disabled. To break it down, japp is my user ID (which happen to be my
initials). The rest of the address is my domain suffix (ozemail -- my
provider), .com (commercial) and finally .au (Australia).

 GC> It looks a little confusing to me and it is so involved how does one
 GC> remember it?

The same way one remembers phone numbers; if you dial them enough, you will
eventually remember them. I'm a walking phone book, but that's another
story.

I hope this information has helped you. Any further questions to netmail.

Johnno

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