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If you've ever tried to parse WHOIS programmatically, you'd realize that it being an unstructured blob of text is actually quite unconducive to it being useful. Having every endpoint return a standardized JSON payload specified in an RFC is much better.

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Better for whom?

All users of the service. Because RDAP has a fully specified format, your client can interpret it in predictable ways and then actually present the information to the user in a consistent format (or be used programmatically). WHOIS is just a blob of text that every service implements somewhat differently, so WHOISing domains across different registrars/registries does not provide a consistent UI, and it's often confusing.

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