Dear Colleagues, You can no longer use `finger handle.YOURINITIALS@whois.ripe.net' to obtain the next free NIC handle. You will only get a message about using the `AUTO' NIC-handle mechanism. This finger tool was shut down because it could give NIC-handles with more than 4 characters in the initials and more than 11 characters in total. Furthermore, it placed an unacceptable (and unnecessary) load on the whois server, particularly at peak times. Regards, Ambrose Magee ____________________________ RIPE Database Administration.