On Thu, 29 Oct 1998, RIPE Database Administration wrote:
When a person object is deleted, its nic-handle is available for re-use immediately. Therefore, you may find that a nic-handle now points to a different person or role object. We recommend that you check the consistency of your data i.e. see if the nic-handles in the admin-c, tech-c, and zone-c lines of your objects refer to the correct person or role objects.
It's true, that nic-handle is available for re-use, but it could be (re)created only using directly. If AUTO-# is used to creat new nic handle, bigest value+1 is choosen although "holes" exists.
Please note that it is the users responsibility to restore their own data. We would like to stress that the RIPE NCC operates the RIPE Database, however the responsibility for managing user data lies with the users.
Is it possible implement such feature, that "e-mail" attribute(s) should be used as "notify" as well. In that case nic handle holder will be always informed about (un)expected changes. best regards, Rimas Janusauskas, Taide Net Hostmaster