So my question is what is the X-Apparently-To field ??? And more importantly is there not some type of structuring to email server management/administration software that would cause the emails to be properly directed to the email domain and email user accounts of ONLY those email accounts that are setup on their email server according to some STANDARD field in a properly formatted data structure?
The real/short answer is that I don't have even a tiny
clue about the server management aspect, or for that matter, how one might even go about getting an email address into the "X-Apparently-To" field. It seems to me it might be as simple as using bccs, but for all I know it might take some sort of sneakier manipulation. I suggested looking at the full header only because I do know that the "visible addresses" are basically just semi-informational, and really have no bearing as such on how emails are handled by the servers...
I did a very quick web search that suggested the "X-Apparently-To" field might be AOL-specific, but I'm not at all sure even about that. If a closer perusal of search results doesn't turn up any useful information, you might (emphasis on
might) be able to get something more useful out of an AOL rep now that you know your "real" address is in fact buried in the message header. (I would say I'm a little surprised that the service rep you spoke to didn't suggest looking at the full header immediately, but I'm not really. The last time I spoke to an AOL rep, a year or so ago, I was eventually able to get the info I needed, but it took some slogging through a few typical idiot-customer canned responses before he actually started talking turkey...)