emailSanta.com is a Christmas-themed entertainment website which simulates emailing Santa Claus, a character from Christmas legends.[1][2] It also provides various other Christmas-themed simulations. Users compose their letter by filling in blank fields,[3][4] and the website responds with a computer-generated letter which is claimed to be from Santa Claus.[5][6][7]
emailSanta.com was started in 1997 by Alan Kerr. Kerr started the website after a strikebyCanada Post workers prevented his niece and nephews from sending letters to Santa Claus, which are replied to by volunteers at Canada Post.[8][9] During the first two weeks of the site's existence, emailSanta received over 1,000 emails.[10][11]
The website is available in several languages.[12][13] The website also contains a "Santa Tracker" feature, which simulates the tracking of Santa Claus, in a similar manner to NORAD Tracks Santa.[14]
The website was incorporated in Alberta, Canada as emailSanta.com Inc. in 2011.[7]
In a 2021 letter to the Search Engine Journal, Kerr noted the declining traffic of his website. He wrote that his website was historically "rewarded with #1 positions for very competitive keywords using only white hat methods" and that his website "once – briefly – beat out [the] Google [Santa Tracker] and NORAD [Tracks Santa]", but that『the site’s ranking and organic traffic has been falling hard these past two years』and that "the drop possibly happened in March 2019".[15]
Users compose their letter by filling in blank fields.[3][4] Information submitted includes the user's first name, gender, age and city. The website also unconventionally asks the user to select a "stamp" for the email.[16]
The website then simulates 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, despite being claimed to have been written by Santa Claus himself, is automatically generated server-side using an ASP script written by Kerr.[5][6][7] 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, simulatingavideo 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.[17]
OnChristmas Eve in 2013, Nicholas Tufnell from Wired stated that "[t]he design leaves a lot to be desired (it's very late 1990s) but it's perfectly functional". He tried sending an email on the website and stated that "[t]he response [from Santa] is pleasant enough, if a little vague. It may excite children, but we're not convinced. 'What a nice surprise Nicholas!' ... 'Thank you for sending me your email all the way from London! Mrs. Claus and I always go to see the big tree lighting in Trafalger [sic] Square.' We don't believe him." He stated that the email was coming across as "obsequious" and that "if a 4-year-old had the vocabulary, I'm sure he or she would say the same", and he also noted the misspelling of "Trafalgar". He commented that the website's practice of having Santa type out "*wink*" in emails was "unsettling". Additionally, he stated that the Santa character in the email "gets far too energetic after reciting our gift requests".[16]
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.[18][19][20]
But much has changed for Kerr since he first set up his site. It now offers kids and parents personalized messages from Santa, which run from an ASP script that Kerr built himself.
