
EmailSanta.com

emailSanta.com is a Christmas-themed entertainment website that claims to allow children to send emails to the legendary character Santa Claus and receive a computer-generated, personalized response from the website. It also provides various other Christmas-themed simulations.
History.
emailSanta.com was started in 1997 by Alan Kerr. Kerr started the website after a strike by Canada Post workers prevented his niece and nephews from sending letters to Santa Claus, which are replied to by volunteers at Canada Post. During the first two weeks of the site's existence, emailSanta received over 1,000 emails.
In 2000, a "Santa Tracker" feature was added to the site, allowing users to simulate the tracking of Santa year-round, similar to services provided by North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and Google. The site also features a blog and various other Christmas-themed games and apps.
The website is available in several languages.
The website was incorporated in Alberta, Canada as emailSanta.com Inc. in 2011. Individuals and entities in 26 different countries have been involved in creating emailSanta.com.
Website.
Users compose their letter by filling in blank fields. Personal information, such as full name or e-mail address, is not required.
The website then simulates the process of the process of the email being sent and then compiles an immediate and personalized reply to the sender based on the user's input. The reply is automatically generated server-side using an ASP script written by Kerr, but the letter is claimed to have been written by Santa Claus himself. Optionally, the user can request to "see Santa live," in which case a video recording of an actor's portrayal of Santa would be shown to the user before the reply letter is shown, simulating a video call with Santa.
From the website's inception, children whose letters contained pleas for help were directed to a special web page on the site listing online resources for assistance and counselling helplines. In dire circumstances, police have been contacted.
Impact on popular culture.
Prior to the Internet, letters to Santa were traditionally delivered by post. Tanya Gulevich, in her Encyclopedia of Christmas and New Years Celebrations wrote:
In 1997 postal workers all over the [U.S.] reported the first decline ever in the numbers of letters sent to Santa Claus at Christmas time... No one knows why so many kids all at once lost interest in writing letters to Santa. Perhaps they suddenly discovered e-mail.
Some overworked U.S. Postmasters requested children use emailSanta.com instead of sending letters via regular mail. One particular instance was due to the anthrax scare in the early 2000s.
Beginning in 1998, users could sign up for emailSanta's "Daily Top 10" list. Similar in spirit to Art Linkletter's work, the emailSanta list was a curated list of emails sent by visitors to the site. Some of these lists were reprinted in newspapers
 and magazines, and read on TV networks and radio stations.
Elementary school teachers have also used emailSanta.com in their classrooms to teach computer literacy and reading skills.