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This error was common enough that it was z39.50 diagnostic #7. This is not a unique problem to OCLC. And forbidding truncated searching because sometimes it generates too many terms is like forbidding searching because sometimes it generates too large a result set. Ralph > -----Original Message----- > From: Marc Cromme [mailto:[log in to unmask]] > Sent: Monday, August 30, 2004 9:39 AM > To: [log in to unmask] > Subject: Re: I need another diagnostic > > LeVan,Ralph wrote: > > > > >Great, we're back to the old Fortran message, "syntax error", and it's up > to > >the user to guess what they did wrong. > > > > > > > Well - you might think so. But your argument is quite not useful here. I > do not opt for > cutting all error messages down to nothing. Good error messages are of > course of use. > > On the other hand, introducing a new error message is only justified if > it saves the bulk of users _and_ implementors considerable time for the > future. > > In this specific case - one server implementation having problems with a > particular expansion - I do not think the burden for all other server > implementors to think about this problem and do it right - and all > client implementors to certainly be in the need to think about is and > do it right - is in any proportion to the problem at hand. > > I might not be on the main stream of how others feel about this, but I > think it is no good idea to throw in a new error message because one > implementor wants it. > > But it is a good idea to do so if many server implementors and most of > the client implementors feel a need to do so. > > >I think we can do better than that. > > > > > Yes - as server implementor you can make sure that this error does not > occur. > Or if you can not do that, you can forbid any query which triggers this > error. > > >Ralph > > > > > > > cheers, Marc