Maybe that's it, 'cause I still can't get it working. I've joined and posted to the netparsewhois list, but right now I'm leaning towards simply pasting my code directly into the original module's _connect() method and remembering to do so each time it is upgraded. This is acceptable to me since I am the exclusive user of the script, machine and modules so why not customize them to my liking? I really need to be able to whois using proxies, and would like to have been able to cleanly override the method rather than hacking it, but my project needs to move forward. Argh.