Building BobSmithPhotography.net has stopped expanding because I've been overwhelmed with spam on the comment forums. So, if you're here and have questions about web design come and visit Forums, Blogs, Wikis dot com. It has articles that I've written, some of which are also here, and a web design forum as well so you can ask any questions you may have. There is still a lot of good stuff here though, so poke around the links and take a look.

Home » Glossary » Autoresponder

Autoresponder

An autoresponder is a special type of email account.  When an autoresponder receives a message it automatically sends out a reply back to the sender.   

Let's say that Bob wants to have his price list sent out to anyone who sends an email to pricelist@bobsmithphotography.net (not a real email address, please don't try it).  He sets up pricelist@ as an autoresponder in such a way that the reply message is his price list.  Now all he needs to do is publicize that email address as a quick and easy way for visitors to get his current price list.

But Bob can take it one step further.  Just because the message is replied to by the server doesn't mean that Bob won't be able to read it.  Bob can still see the emails sent and reply to them personally. 

See Also:
MX Record

More Information:
WikiPedia
Content managed by the Etomite Content Management System.