> > > Recently my server received a subscription request from a user at > > CUNYVM. For reasons unrelated to this query, the subscription request > > bounced. What I'm trying to understand is: how did a real mail origin > > of CUNYVM become "CUNYVM.HARVARD.EDU"???? One reason for this is a site running HUJI-NJE or UREP on a Unix system, which simply passes the NJE user/node name to the Unix mail system as user@node -- no qualification at all, which permits the Unix mail system to treat it as Internet mail and (incorrectly) assume the local domain -- thus the CUNYVM.harvard.edu. I believe that Harvard has been making an effort to move most mail processing to Unix systems, so you may be getting caught in that. The fix (for HUJI-NJE) is to have the header construction routines add an explicit .BITNET before the message is passed to the Unix MTA. This prevents the misinterpretation, as only NJE files enter the MTA through that channel and require the qualification. I don't know whether UREP has this problem or not.