The  addition of  the  .BITNET qualifier  for  non-domain-style addresses  was
announced under  enhancement. Personally I feel  that it's ugly and  I fail to
see the reason for it.
If the problem is ambiguity of nodenames ("local" vs. BINET) when sending mail
then  how is  the same  ambiguity resolved  when *receiving*  mail. Maybe  I'm
missing  something.  Let's assume  there  are  problems  at node  GALAXY  when
LISTSERV@GALAXY sends mail to JOEUSER@RIGEL becuase  RIGEL is both a local and
a BITNET node. LISTSERV send to [log in to unmask] to avoid conflicts.
But how  do subscription requests differ?  Is there a difference  between mail
(or  messages) from  the local  node and  from BITNET?  If not,  then I'd  say
.BITNET doesn't help much. If there are - then where's the problem.
Nodes one more  than one network are double-(or multiple-)headed.  As far as I
understand  LISTSERV is  not  (and  is not  designed  for  it). Therefore  the
LISTSERV  should be  in  the  BITNET incarnation  of  the  node and  shouldn't
encounter problems addressing  BITNET. Furthermore if there  are problems with
mail what about RSCS? Why needs mail to JOEUSER@RIGEL be qualified while files
need not ???
 
Christian
Disclaimer: I had a hard week ...