An electronic postmaster is the capability in a program,
usually a special program designated as an e-mail server, for handling the
distribution, forwarding, and receiving of e-mail in a network. For example,
an Simple Mail Transfer Protocol server at your access provider acts as
an electronic postmaster by forwarding your outgoing messages to their destinations
in the network and by collecting your incoming messages so that you can
request them from a POP3 server that holds your messages until you request
that they be sent to your workstation client.
When you send a message with an e-mail address that can't be located, the
term "electronic postmaster" may appear in the message sent to
you by the SMTP server.
|
