Hi, Michael van Elst <mlelstv@xlink.net> writes: * * I'm not sure what needs to be 'rectified'. But if you silently change * the semantics of a public database more than a year after a discussion * that wasn't attended by its current users, then you shouldn't wonder * about complaints. Well, Hank is hardly a new user. And yes, we took too long to deploy this feature, however, I can't see that the issues would have been different a year ago (maybe I am wrong). I am not having an exercise on defending against changing this. I am more than glad to make changes if the community asks for them (and to propose new ones that we think make sense). I want to see what the rest of the people think since the previous consensus was different to what I am seeing now. * * But complaining alone doesn't achieve anything. As it appears * the database lacks the feature of an exact-match query and I * kindly propose to add such a feature. * Well the purpose of the design is to give the user information about the parent domain if a certain domain is missing. That's also how the rest of the lookups in the RIPE DB work and is also what you do when looking in the DNS for contact info for a domain and you can't find it. May be people now see the need for an exact matching option (there is already one to disable referral: -R). However if you make this the default behaviour then the purpose of the referral mechanism is defeated. Joao * * Regards, * -- * i.A. Michael van Elst / phone: +49 721 6635 330 * Xlink - Network Information Centre \/ fax: +49 721 6635 349 * Vincenz-Priessnitz-Str. 3 /\ link http://nic.xlink.net/ * D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany /_______ email: hostmaster@xlink.net * [ Xlink Internet Consulting GmbH, Sitz Koeln ] * [ Amtsgericht Koeln HRB 3526, Geschaeftsfuehrer: Michael Rotert ] * *