Why can't the registry folks get their collective act together and provide users with a system that allows a simple request like "whois name" to find the appropriate [piece] of the database.
Why can't the ISPs get their act together and use a whois client that allows a simple request like "whois name" to find the appropriate database? This is simple enough that it could be done with a PERL script frontend to the regular whois client and as an added bonus it could lookup info in the country-code TLD databases as well.
If people used a WKS RR for whois in reverse and forward DNS this would solve this problem with a very small client hack, and allow for future changes throughout both the namespace and IP hierachy. -- Alex Bligh GX Networks (formerly Xara Networks)