Character Search on Different Servers

Following the news that Stormhold is going to be merged with AB or we will be able to transfer to server of our choice, I have been doing some research on the different servers.

I started to check names with the Character search option on here, but I found it did not always match up to the characters that I can make or add to my friends list once in the game.

For example, one of my characters has a unique name on EQ2wire - no other characters on any server but Stormhold. But when entering AB or and Skyfire it either wouldn't let me make a character with that name, or with a different character it added them to my friends list.

Does the EQ2 wire character search only go back to a certain date and this means these characters haven't played for a long time maybe?

Any help would be appreciated while I research/quest for a new server

 

ok fab, thank you, that works one way, but why would it not be showing characters on there and then when I try to make a character it says name already taken or adds in to my friends list?

 

ok thank you