Identified - Important: query.title feature to be blocked on REST API

As users will have noticed, we’ve been having recurring performance issues on the REST API and related services such as Crossref Metadata Search and Content Negotiation. This has been particularly problematic over the last couple of days.

We’ve identified that this is due to the query.title feature on the REST API. Because of the way it's implemented, it seems to be degrading the performance of the REST API on all pools in which it’s used (public, polite and plus). The impact is not only on queries that use query.title but on all other users of the system too.

Because this is causing serious issues for dependent services, we’re planning on taking the step of blocking all use of the query.title feature later today. We’ve tried other fixes as an alternative, but this is the approach that will benefit the greatest number of users who are being affected by the performance issues. We’re aware that this is very short notice, but it’s the one way for us to stabilise the service for all users - the small group using query.title, and all other users too.

If you’re currently using query.title, please change to query.bibliographic instead. This is designed for title matching, so should in fact be a better fit for you.

We will update you when we introduce this change. At this point, anyone using the deprecated query parameter will see an HTTP 400 status code and an explanation.
Oct 16, 17:29 UTC

Identified - Our content negotiation service has been sluggish for the past few hours. This seems to be due to heavy usage from a single user. We're working with the relevant user and hope to return the service to normal performance very soon.
Oct 14, 14:09 UTC

Identified - Content negotiation and the Polite and Public REST API have experienced degraded performance for the last two to three hours due to heavy usage. We're working with users of these services to correct the problem.
Oct 11, 17:27 UTC