phpmysqlemailsmtpcraigslist

Email relaying with php | craigslist's anonymous email generator


I wanted to create (or at least learn/know how it is done) application(or configuration?) that does similar to what craigslist does when people choose to hide their email with the "anonymous" option when making posts. I suspect that it is done with what's called email relaying. I'd like to find out how it is done in process - from when user enter their email to receiving an email via an anonymous email address. I come from a "LAMP" background at an intermediate level so please bear with me and kindly explain.

Your responses/comments/suggestions/pointers are greatly appreciated.

Thank you


Solution

  • The easiest way to do this is to receive email with your php app. There are a wide range of ways to do this, collecting using cron, piping from an email server directly into your app or using a third party like CloudMailin.

    I wrote a blog post explaining some of the methods you can use to receive incoming email using php here. The post discusses rails but the principals are the same for most languages and frameworks.