What is a default email address and how to I create one for my web site?

Most web hosting companies allow you to create a default email address, also called a catch-all email address, for your web site. You can check if your web hosts have provided this feature through the Mail (or equivalent) utility under the control panel; else contact the technical support of the company.

Creating a default or catch-all email address

The easiest and quickest way to create a default email address is through the Mail Manager or equivalent utility from the control panel of your web hosting server. here you simply need to enter the default address you want and you are all set.

The default email address, like the name suggests, is an email account that can receive messages for accounts that don't exist. For example, let us assume that your web site doesn't have an email address support@YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.com (substitute YOUR-DOMAIN-NAME.com with your actual domain name). If someone sends an email to this account, it would bounce or return back to the sender... right? However, if you have a catch-all email, instead of bouncing, the message goes to the default email address. I know this sounds cool but it's actually a double-edged sword - read on.

A default email address lets you receive email messages for accounts that don't exist. Fine! It would also receive messages if the sender spelt a legitimate email address incorrectly, which is a nice thing. However, default email address tends to collect a lot of spam. I say this from experience. If you web site is even moderately successful you can be sure that your default email account would be filled with messages on how to lose weight, increase virility, receive free money... you know what I mean.

Default or Catch-all email address - advantages and disadvantages

So should your web site have a default email address? That's a difficult question to answer. I would suggest that you create one when you are starting out and if the amount of spam it out of control, simply close it.

You can also think of setting up a spam filter if you are very eager to use the default email address. To know more about email spam filter please refer Stopping spam: anti-spam filters and Outlook Express spam filters and blockers.