I'm a noob and seriously confused. I built a form for my website with a php script that validates and sends an email to me when someone fills it out. So, what is an auto-responder? Do I incorporate that some how with my php script, or do I not need the php script at all if I use an auto-responder? Thanks in advance
An autoresponder is used for automatically sending email notifications when something happens, like you just subscribed to something. Some web hosting companies such as GoDaddy offer autoresponder email features under cPanel. I'm pretty sure big names have them. Just configure it under cPanel. Another way to do this is having a local program check the database for new members and using the program to send email to the new members. I did the second option for educational purposes but the first one should be more efficient.
Autoresponder is automatic mail shooted back to the origin email box , it may contains information like "Thank you for email and will get back to you soon". It can be configured at the mail provider or you can also do the coding for the same. As any user submit the form and he has valid mail , just read his email id in the last and send him the thanks email immediately . Later you can see his feedback and reply again.