Colleagues, The Whois query parser for the RIPE Database Server has been revised to be more consistent and helpful to users. In the new version, inconsistent queries and invalid input will be detected and reported to the user, rather than silently processed. Users may see different results for inproperly formatted queries; some may result in an error message, and some will be processed with an appropriate warning. The idea is to be as clear as possible, but some users may be confused, and tools may break. We would like your feedback on the changes, so that we can modify the behaviour to provide the clearest and most useful results. Accordingly, we are now running a prototype of the Whois server with the revised parser. It is a mirror of the production server, meaning that it will provide the same results for queries, except where the parser is different. Usage: To access this server, use "whois-beta.ripe.net" as your Whois server. Except as noted on the web page below, queries behave identically to the production server. For full details, please see: http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/pub-services/db/whois-prototype-2002.html Feedback: Please send any comments or suggestions to <dbrip@ripe.net>, or discuss on the Database Working Group mailing list: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/wg/db/index.html We look forward to your feedback. -- Shane Kerr Database Group RIPE NCC