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Wikibooks talk:Good books

There are a few things that I think this wikiproject needs to do right off the bat: Once we have that, I would say that this wikiprojet will be in business. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 16:09, 23 January 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) Finalize a set of grading criteria (or agree on the criteria we already have)
 * 2) Create templates to mark books which are "good".
 * 3) Create a process where books can be nominated for this distinction, and where people can vote on them.

 * I just have one comment about the current listing; the "other related policies" is really vague and has no link, I think we should especially point to the necessity of following the NPOV and NOR, and the copyright policy (those, IMO, are the most fundamental policies). Other than that I think the current criteria are quite good and I would support them. Mattb112885 02:06, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

 * There is plenty of room for improvement in this area, and any changes that you think should be made, you can feel free to add. I will likely be doing alot of work on this project in the near future myself. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:21, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Changes are made
I must admit, despite be Bold I still am a little leery of editing policy pages but since it is still in development I guess it makes more sense for me to show directly what I felt was missing.Regards. Mattb112885 05:05, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Quick question: What will be the biggest difference between this and the Editorial Board? They seem to go hand-in-hand; should we maybe make a step-by-step process? I think maybe that would make sense, where an aspiring book first becomes listed under good books, then once listed can go under editorial review, and then finally to the publishing project... I'd like to propose that we make this an "official" part of the project... what do you think? Mattb112885 02:30, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Good question. The editorial board as I envision it is just a group of people who focus on publishing and distributing. The Good books project will be a group of people who find good books here on wikibooks, and maintain the list at Featured books. In general, I would say that alot of people should be working hand-in-hand to be authoring and promoting our books, from curriculum planning, book authoring, editing, promoting, publishing, and distributing. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 02:59, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Another quick question: Are we basically purging the current list of featured books and starting over? Or are we going to start from that, prune, and expand from there? I would like to avoid nominating books already on the list if it is the latter. Regards, Mattb112885 20:06, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

 * I think it's a good idea to start with the existing list, and work from there. Many of the books on that list are acceptable, but should be double-checked anyway. Books can slowly degrade over time, especially as the primary authors lose interest, and other random authors make unwatched changes that are of lower quality then the original text. We might also want to keep an eye on Nearly complete, as that list will accomplish nearly the same thing (and may even superceed this list). --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 00:23, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Accuracy and completeness
As Whiteknight pointed out (among others), and I had been noticing myself, we don't concentrate on these issues when considering books for Featured status. I think we should - these are just as important (if not moreso!) than our current criteria. While I love to see books following the naming policy, being accurate and complete is far more important in my view.

Adding some wording to cover these aspects would raise a few issues. We already know who will be considering these books; it's a rather limited subset of a rather limited subset of the fairly small community. That is, it will not necessarily be the case that any book nominated will cover a subject we have an expert for (barring the author, who wouldn't necessarily be impartial anyways). So if we don't have someone who knows the subject well, can we evaluate whether it is accurate and complete appropriately?

I don't know the answer here - we may end up simply concluding that we can't assess these things reliably, and therefore cannot add them as criteria. I'd be very unhappy with that conclusion, but I'm unsure how we can come to another one. Perhaps the easiest is to add these as criteria, and figure it out later - if we don't come across a book for which we have no (second) expert, great! If we do, then we can deal with it at that point. Possible solutions there include trying to find an external reviewer from Wikipedia, or from academia.

I'd certainly be interested to hear some thinking on these issues, as writing this was the most consideration I had given the topic to date. I look forward to some good old-fashioned collaboration :) — Mike.lifeguard | talk 11:34, 8 August 2008 (UTC)

title: Wikibooks talk:Good books


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Financial Derivatives/Basic Derivatives Contracts

Forwards
Spot markets allow the purchase and sale of an asset today. By contrast a forward contract specifies the price at which an asset can be purchased or sold at some future date. Although a forward contract is classified as a derivative in many markets it is difficult to distinguish between the underlying and the forward contract. Large trading volumes in OTC forwards can in fact make them more significant than spot markets.

A forward contract does not require upfront payment. It is simply the purchase or sale of an asset at some future date at a fixed price (the forward price). Therefore the assumption is that the forward price reflects the value of this asset on this date. If this assumption is based on a market view, characterising a forward contract as a derivative is misleading.

The primary reason for the classification of a forward contract as a derivative is that in many cases its price can be derived through a no-arbitrage argument that relates the forward price of an asset to its spot price. For assets like oil this is not possible; given the spot price of a barrel of oil it is not possible to construct an arbitrage argument that relates it to the forward price. In the oil markets forwards or futures are effectively the underlying and cannot be understood as derivatives. In these markets the forward price of oil is similar in nature to the price of a stock: it reflects the current consensus of the market and has nothing to do with risk-neutral valuation.

In financial markets forwards can be determined through a no-arbitrage argument. Consider for example a forward on the USD vs EUR exchange rate. If today one euro can be exchanged for 1.3 dollars ($$ FX_{spot} $$) then in order to determine the forward exchange rate one year from now we can look at the following set of trades, The net cashflow of this trade at expiry is,
 * We buy a one year forward that guarantees an exchange rate of $$ FX_{one year} $$ dollars per euro.
 * We borrow one dollar today.
 * We exchange it for (1/1.3) euros and invest this amount in a deposit account.
 * After one year we withdraw the principal and the interest earned and exchange them into dollars at $$ FX_{one year} $$.

$$ -(1+r_{USD}) + \frac{1}{FX_{spot}} (1+r_{EUR}) FX_{one year} $$

In the absence of arbitrage opportunities the net cashflow of this trade should be zero and therefore,

$$ FX_{one year}=FX_{spot} \frac{(1+r_{USD})}{(1+r_{EUR})} $$

Another example is a forward contract on a zero coupon one year bond, one year from now. Given the price of a one year bond $$ P_{1 year} $$ and a two year bond $$ P_{2 year} $$ we look at the following set of trades, Since $$ P_{1 year}>P_{2 year} $$ we must borrow the difference. After one year we receive $1 from the one year bond and pay interest and principal on the amount borrowed. The two year bond has one year to maturity and we transfer it to the buyer of the forward in return for $$ P_{1,1} $$. Therefore the net cashflow in one year is,
 * Sell a one year zero coupon bond one year from now at forward price $$ P_{1,1} $$.
 * Buy a one year zero coupon bond today.
 * Sell a two year zero coupon bond today.

$$ -(P_{1 year}-P_{2 year})(1+r_{1 year})+1+ P_{1,1} $$

In the absence of arbitrage opportunities this cashflow must be zero. Since,

$$ P_{1 year}= \frac{1}{(1+r_{1 year})} $$

we conclude that,

$$ P_{1,1}=P_{2 year}/P_{1 year} $$

It is interesting to note that the formula,

$$ P_{1 year}= \frac{1}{(1+r_{1 year})} $$

is based on a "no-arbitrage" argument itself and the one year bond can be viewed as the "forward contract" for one dollar received in one year. Given the value of $$ r_{1 year} $$, if the price of the one year bond was different from $$ 1/(1+r_{1 year}) $$ one could sell a one-year bond at a price $$ P^* > P_{1 year} $$. At expiry one dollar would be paid to the buyer of the bond but since the proceeds from the sale would have earned $$ P^* (1+r_{1 year}) $$ they would cover this payment and leave a clear profit. Only if $$ P^* = 1/(1+r_{1 year}) = P_{1 year} $$ the condition of no arbitrage holds.

The main features of forward contract are :
 * It is an agreement between two parties to buy or sell assets at an agreed future point in time.
 * Buying or selling price of assets is determined in present time.
 * The transfer or delivery of assets is in future agreed period.
 * Any terms of contract can be negotiated (not standardized)between the parties involved in the forward contract
 * Transactions in forward contract are not transparent.
 * The difference between the spot and the forward price is the forward premium or forward contract.
 * If the price of stock is increased in future, investor(buyer) will gain and seller will lose.

Futures
Futures contracts, like forward contracts, specify the delivery of an asset at some future date. Futures contracts, unlike forward contracts, There three requirements in practice are not unique to futures contracts. The best way to understand them is by looking at a specific futures contract.
 * 1)  Require the buyer or the seller of the futures contract to post margin.
 * 2) Have minimum margin requirements; these requirements are achieved through a margin call.
 * 3) Use the process of mark-to-market.

The corn futures contract trades at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). The specifications of the contract are very strict and require the delivery of "no. 2 yellow" corn; if other grades of corn are delivered instead the price paid is adjusted. The contract size can be in multiples of 5,000 bushels of corn. Futures can be purchased for delivery of corn in months December, March, May, July and September only. Trading this contract ceases on the business day nearest to the 15th calendar date of the delivery month. Delivery takes place two business days after the 15th calendar date of the delivery month.

Assume that one lot (5,000 bushels) of the Jul-07 contract was bought at 418 cents/bushel on 24 January 2007. The exchange would require the buyer to post initial margin of $900. If the buyer does not post this amount of money in her account with the exchange, her order cannot be executed. For this contract the maintenance margin is the same; during the life of this futures contract the balance of the account cannot go below this level; if for any reason the balance of the account falls below the maintenance margin, the buyer of this contract will receive a margin call.

On the date on which the trade was executed the mark-to-market of the futures contract is zero. Assume that on the next trading date, the settlement price of the futures contract is 418 3/4 cents/bushel (settlement price is the price traded for a futures contract at the close of the trading session). The mark-to-market of the Jul-07 corn futures is,

$$ MtM = 5,000 * (418 3/4 - 418) = $37.50 $$

The balance on the buyer's account will now be $937.50. The account is like a normal deposit account and earns interest on its balance.

If the market price of the Jul-07 corn contract drops in the following day, the mark-to-market could drop from $37.50 to $12.50. In this case $25 are withdrawn from the buyer's account and the balance is now $912.50.

If on the last trading date of this contract (13 July 2007) the settlement price is 420 1/4 cents/bushel then the mark-to-market is $112.50. The final balance of the buyer's account is $1012.50 plus interest earned. Since the corn that will be delivered on the 17th July 2007 is worth $21,012.50, the buyer will pay this amount to the clearing house. The clearing house acts as counterparty in the transaction between the corn producer and the buyer and makes sure payments are made and corn is delivered to the warehouse nominated by the buyer.

Since the trader has earned $112.50 (plus interest) in effect the net payment for delivery of corn is $20,900. This is equivalent to paying 418 cents/bushel on the corn delivered. The futures contract has therefore enabled the buyer to purchase corn at the original price of 418 cents/bushel and hedge against price changes.

In order to compare the price of a forward contract $$ F_0 $$ and the price of a futures contract $$ \Phi_0 $$ we look at the following set of trades: where $$ r_i $$ is the daily interest rate applicable for period starting on date $$ i $$ and ending on date $$ N $$. This set of equations can be solved recursively. The value of the margin account on date $$ N $$ will be,
 * We sell a forward contract to deliver a specific quantity of corn at some future date for price $$ F_0 $$.
 * For dates $$ i=0,1,2, ..., N-1 $$ we purchase a quantity $$ q_i $$ of the futures contract so that the following conditions are satisfied:
 * $$ q_0 (1+r_1)^{N-1} =1 $$
 * $$ (q_0+q_1) (1+r_2)^{N-2}=1 $$
 * $$ (q_0+q_1+...+q_{N-1}) (1+r_{N-1})=1 $$
 * $$ (q_0+q_1+...+q_{N-1}) (1+r_{N-1})=1 $$

$$ \sum_{i=1}^{N-1} \left( \sum_{j=0}^{i-1} q_j \right) (1+r_i)^{N-i} [\Phi_i - \Phi_{i-1}] $$

To undestand the last equation, we know that on date $$ i $$ the total quantity of futures purchased is $$q_0+q_1+...+q_{i-1}$$. By the end of date $$ i $$ the mark-to-market change is equal to $$(q_0+q_1+...+q_{i-1})(\Phi_{i}-\Phi_{i-1})$$. Depending on the direction of the change $$\Phi_{i}-\Phi_{i-1}$$ this is a gain or a loss and earns or requires the payment of principal plus interest at the expiry date of the contract.

Given the conditions that give rise to the solutions for $$ q_i $$, the last equation is equal to $$ \Phi_N - \Phi_0 $$. Since at expiry the price of the futures is equal to the spot price of the asset and therefore $$ F_N = \Phi_N $$, if $$ \Phi_0 $$ is different from $$ F_0 $$ a risk-free profit can be generated. Note that there is no cost in entering into the series of futures contracts and depending on the sign of the difference $$ F_0 - \Phi_0 $$ the strategy can be reversed. Therefore the forward price must be equal to the futures price.

The strategy used in this analysis assumes that when we purchase an additional quantity $$ q_i $$ of the futures contract we know the interest rate for the period $$ i+1 $$ to $$ N $$. Since in practise the actual value of the interest rate is not known assume that we can lock in a forward rate. However since we cannot predict the change in the mark-to-market of the futures contract in the period $$ i $$ to $$ i+1 $$ we do not know the notional amount we must purchase.

Assume that on date $$ i $$ we make the assumption that there will be no change in the mark-to-market of the futures and therefore there is no need to lock in a forward rate for the period $$ i+1 $$ to $$ N $$. Since the most likely scenario is that we will be wrong, we will have to borrow or deposit the actual change in the mark-to-market at the spot rate for the period $$ r_{i+1} $$.

As long as the error in our estimate of the mark-to-market change is independent of the spot rate we can expect that the costs/benefits will balance to zero. But if the mark-to-market change of the futures contract is a function of spot rate the costs/benefits will not balance to zero and the futures strategy described above will not be able to replicate the payoff of the forward. We conclude that when the futures contract is a function of the interest rate the futures price will not be equal to the forward price.

Another exception occurs when the futures price can change by large amounts from one date to the next. The term "large amounts" here means that a one day move accounts for a large percentage of the difference between $$ \Phi_0 $$ and $$ \Phi_N $$. In this case on the date when this large price change occurs the error in the notional locked in at the forward rate is large enough to magnify the error in our estimate of the change in the mark-to-market. Furthermore, all subsequent mark-to-market changes are much smaller and cannot balance this cost/benefit. Fortunately, most exchanges limit the maximum change in the futures price that can occur from one date to the next. But if such large price moves are possible then, even if the futures price is not a function of the interest rate, the assumption that it is equal to the forward price is wrong.

In general, the relation between the futures and the forward price cannot be derived through a static arbitrage strategy unless interest rates have a deterministic term-structure. The derivation of the relation between the futures and the forward price of an asset is one of the first applications of dynamic hedging [Black 1976].

The main features of Future contract are:

 * It is standardized contract made in terms of quantity, expiration date and settlement procedures etc.
 * Transition in a future contract are fully transparant.
 * It is traded in organized exchange and is "marked to market" daily.
 * Physical delivery of underlying assets is virtually never taken.

Swaps
A swap is an agreement to exchange a sequence of cash flows over a period of time in the future in same or different currencies. Mainly used for hedging various interest rate exposures, they are very popular and highly liquid instruments. Some of the very popular swap types are

Fixed - Float (Same currency) Party P pays/receives fixed interest in currency A to receive/pay floating rate in currency A indexed to X on a notional N for a tenor T years. For example, you pay fixed 5.32% monthly to receive USD 1M Libor monthly on a notional USD 1 mio for 3 years. Fixed-Float swaps in same currency are used to convert a fixed/floating rate asset/liability to a floating/fixed rate asset/liability. For example, if a company has a fixed rate USD 10 mio loan at 5.3% paid monthly and a floating rate investment of USD 10 mio that returns USD 1M Libor +25 bps monthly, and wants to lockin the profit as they expect the USD 1M Libor to go down, then they may enter into a Fixed-Floating swap where the company pays floating USD 1M Libor+25 bps and receives 5.5% fixed rate, locking in 20bps profit.

Fixed - Float (Different currency) Party P pays/receives fixed interest in currency A to receive/pay floating rate in currency B indexed to X on a notional N at an initial exchange rate of FX for a tenor T years. For example, you pay fixed 5.32% on the USD notional 10 mio quarterly to receive JPY 3M Tibor monthly on a JPY notional 1.2 bio (at an initial exchange rate of USDJPY 120) for 3 years. For Nondeleverable swaps, USD equivalent of JPY interest will be paid/received (as per the Fx rate on the FX fixing date for the interest payment day). Note in this case no initial Exchange of notional takes place unless the Fx fixing date and the swap start date fall in the future. Fixed-Float swaps in different currency are used to convert a fixed/floating rate asset/liability in one currency to a floating/fixed rate asset/liability in a different currency. For example, if a company has a fixed rate USD 10 mio loan at 5.3% paid monthly and a floating rate investment of JPY 1.2 bio that returns JPY 1M Libor +50 bps monthly, and wants to lockin the profit in USD as they expect the JPY 1M Libor to go down or USDJPY to go up(JPY depreciate against USD), then they may enter into a Fixed-Floating swap in different currency where the company pays floating JPY 1M Libor+50 bps and receives 5.6% fixed rate, locking in 30bps profit against the interest rate and the fx exposure.

Float - Float (Same Currency, different index) Party P pays/receives floating interest in currency A Indexed to X to receive/pay floating rate in currency B indexed to Y on a notional N for a tenor T years. For example, you pay JPY 1M Libor monthly to receive JPY 1M Tibor monthly on a notional JPY 1 bio for 3 years.

In this case, company wants to lockin the cost from the spread widening or narrowing. For example, if a company has a floating rate loan at JPY 1M Libor and the company has an investment that returns JPY 1M Tibor+30 bps and currently the JPY 1M Tibor = JPY 1M Libor +10bps. At the moment, this company has a net profit of 40 bps. If the company thinks JPY 1M tibor is going to come down or JPY 1M Libor is going to increase in the future and wants to insulate from this risk, they can enter into a Float float swap in same currency where they pay JPY TIBOR +10 bps and receive JPY LIBOR+35 bps. with this, they have effectively locked in a 35 bps profit instead of running with a current 40 bps gain and index risk. The 5bps difference comes from the swap cost which includes the market expectations of the future rates in these two indices and the bid/offer spread which is the swap commission for the swap dealer.

Float - Float (Different Currency) Party P pays/receives floating interest in currency A Indexed to X to receive/pay floating rate in currency A indexed to Y on a notional N at an initial exchange rate of FX for a tenor T years. For example, you pay floating USD 1M libor on the USD notional 10 mio quarterly to receive JPY 3M Tibor monthly on a JPY notional 1.2 bio (at an initial exchange rate of USDJPY 120) for 4 years.

To explain the use of this type of swap, consider a US company operating in Japan. To fund their Japanese growth, they need JPY 10 bio. the easiest option for the company is to issue debt in Japan. As the company might be new in the Japanese market with out a well known reputation among the Japanese investors, this can be an expensive option. Added on top of this, the company might not have appropriate Debt issuance program in Japan and they might lack sophisticated treasury operation in Japan. To overcone the above problems, they can issue USD debt and convert to JPY in the FX market. Although this option solves the first problem, it introduces two new risks to the company. 1. Fx risk. If this if this USDJPY spot goes up at the maturity of the debt, then when the company converts the JPY to USD to pay back its matured debt, it receives less USD and suffers a loss 2. USD and JPY interest rate risk. If the JPY rates come down, the return on the investment in Japan might go down and this introduces a interest rate risk component.

First exposure in the above can be hedged using long dated FX forward contracts but this introduces a new risk where the implied rate from the Fx Spot and the Fx Frward is a fixed rate but the JPY invest ment returns a floating rate. Although there are several alternatives to hedge both the exposures effectively with out introducing new risks, the easiest and the most cost effective alternative would be to use a Float-Float swap in different currencies. In this, the company raises USD by issuing USD Debt and swaps it to JPY. It receives USD floating rate(so matching the interest payments on the USD Debt) and pays JPY floating rate matching the returns on the JPY investment.

Fixed - Fixed (different currency) Party P pays/receives fixed interest in currency A to receive/pay fixed rate in currency B for a tenor T years. For example, you pay JPY 1.6% on a JPy notional of 1.2 bio and receive USD 5.36% on the USD equivalent notional of 10 mio at an initial exchange rate of USDJPY 120.

Usage is similar to above but you receive USD fixed rate and pay JPY fixed rate.

--192.147.54.3 05:07, 29 June 2007 (UTC)M G Naidu

Primarily used as hedging instruments, against varying interest payments. The base concept is quite easy to follow; you swap a fixed rate for a floating rate or vice-versa. In the case of companies that offer Variable Rate Bonds, they can enter into a swap agreement with a broker or dealer; where the company pays the broker a fixed rate as per agreement and the broker provides them with the floating rate, which can be used to make periodic coupon payments. In essence, the company has hedged it's risk against a sudden rate increase, as it is locked in a fixed rate over time. Swaps may be terminated with one party paying its counterpart a certain fee, which may have been determined at time of initial agreement or may be based on future payments if interest rates were to remain constant.

Options
An option is a financial instrument that gives the holder to purchase or sale the stated number of shares at pre determined price(exercise price) within or on certain future date. It can be defined as a contract between two investors( i.e. call writer and option buyer).

There are two types of stock options:
 * Call Option: Call option gives the buyer a right to purchase the given stock at the strike price. Thus Call option is generally bought when the buyer is bullish about the underlying security.The value of call option can be calculated by following equation:

Vc= Max.(Vs-- E,0)

Where,

Vc = value of call option

Max = Maximum

0 = Zero

Vs = Value of stock

E = Exercise price or strike price

Profit or Loss

Buyer = Vc - Premium

Seller = Premium - Vc

Break- Even point

Buyer = Exercise Price + Premium Paid

Seller = Exercise Price + premium Received

 * Put Option: Similarly buying a put option gives you the right to sell the underlying stock at the strike price. Put option is bought when the buyer has bearish views about the underlying security.The value of Put option can be calculated by following equation:

Vp= Max(E - Vs-,0)

Where,

Vp = value of Put option

Max = Maximum

0 = Zero

Vs = Value of stock

E = Exercise price or stike price

Profit or Loss

Buyer = Vp - Premium

Seller = Premium - Vp

Break- Even point

Buyer = Exercise Price - Premium Paid

Seller = Exercise Price - premium Received

Each option comes with an "Exercise Date". European options may only be exercised on the exercise date, whereas American options may be exercised at any time up till the exercise date.

Due to the put-call parity, it is possible to create artificial call or put options if the other is not available. Put options may also be used as a hedging instrument, against possible decline in value of the underlying stock.

While stocks with high volatility (modified duration) are high risk, options whose underlying stock have high volatility are actually better. They provide a possibility of a higher payout if the stock goes up in proportion to its volatility and the same amount of loss.

Options on Forwards
In this case, the underlying asset on which the option is written is a forward contract. A market exists in which forward contracts are traded. We do not impose the martingale property on the s.d.e. for a forward price. Rather, given the current forward price $F(t,T)$,

$$ \frac{dF(t,T)}{F(t,T)}=\mu dt + \sigma dW(t) $$

In order to simplify the analysis we assume that $$ \mu $$ and $$ \sigma $$ are positive constants. The mark-to-market of a forward contract with arbitrary strike $$ K $$ is,

$$ V(t,T)=B(t,T) [F(t,T)-K] $$

where $$B(t,T)=\exp[-r(T-t)] $$ and $$ r $$ is the risk-free rate. An option on a forward gives the buyer of the option the right to purchase a forward contract with strike $$ K $$ and expiry $$ T^* $$ at some future date $$ T < T^*$$. Lets price this option blindly the actuarial approach. This approach requires that the price of the option is given by taking the expectation of its payoff under the 'true' distribution of the forward price,

$$ C(t,T)=B(t,T) \mathbf{E}_t \left\{B(T,T^*) [F(T,T^*)-K]^+ \right\} $$

where,

$$ F(T,T^*)=F(t,T^*) \exp\left[ \left( \mu - \frac{1}{2} \sigma^2 \right) (T-t) + \sigma \sqrt{T-t} U \right] $$

and $$ U $$ is a standard normal random variable. The expectation has the following simple solution,

$$ C(t,T^*)=B(t,T^*) [Fexp[\mu(T-t)]N(d_1) - K N(d2)] $$

where,

$$ d1=\frac{\ln\left(\frac{F}{K}\right)+\left(\mu+\frac{1}{2}\sigma^2\right)(T-t)}{\sigma \sqrt{T-t}} $$

$$ N(x)=Prob(U>x)$$ and $$ d_2=d_1 - \sigma \sqrt{T-t} $$. In the same way the price of a put is given by,

$$ P(t,T^*)=B(t,T^*) [-F\exp[\mu(T-t)]N(-d_1) + K N(-d2)] $$

In the absence of arbitareg put-call parity requires the following equation to hold,

$$ C(t,T^*)-P(t,T^*)=V(t,T^*) $$

This is equivalent to,

$$ F\exp[\mu(T-t)]-K=F-K $$

This is only possible if $$ \mu=0 $$. This transparent approach, first proposed by Emanuel Derman and Nassim Taleb, generates the arbitrage-free option price without the need for unrealistic assumptions about the viability of dynamic hedging. The only assumption we made was regarding the 'true' probability distribution function of the forward price. If we choose a more general approach, where $$ F(T,T^*) $$ has an arbitrary probability distribution function, then the value of a call option is given by,

$$ \mathbf{E}_t \left\{[F(T,T^*)-K]^+ \right\}= \mathbf{E}_t \left\{F(T,T^*)\right\} \tilde{P}(F(T,T^*)>K)-KP(F(T,T^*)>K) $$

where $$ P(\cdot)$$ is the 'true' probability distribution and $$ \tilde{P}(\cdot) $$ is a probability distribution with the property,

$$ d\tilde{P}(F(T,T^*))=\frac{F(T,T^*)}{\mathbf{E}_t \{ F(T,T^*) \}}dP(F(T,T^*)) $$

In the same way, the value of a put option is given by,

$$ \mathbf{E}_t \left\{[K-F(T,T^*)]^+ \right\}= -\mathbf{E}_t \left\{F(T,T^*)\right\} \tilde{P}(F(T,T^*)<K)+KP(F(T,T^*)<K) $$

By put-call parity,

$$ B(t,T^*) [\mathbf{E}_t \left\{F(T,T^*)\right\}-K]=B(t,T^*) [F(t,T)-K] $$

Therefore,

$$ \mathbf{E}_t \left\{F(T,T^*)\right\}=F(t,T) $$

i.e. under an arbitrary 'true' distribution the option on the forward is priced by using the martingale property for the forward price.

Options on the Product of Two Asset Prices
The growth of the financial sector has resulted in products which are covered under the broad term "exotic derivatives". These derivatives are often written on indices which are derived from traded prices but which themselves are not traded. Depending on investor preferences an index can be a function of more than one asset prices and can be determined from the value of these asset prices from a single or a series of observations. Exotic derivatives can either be priced using analytic methods or numerical techniques. The framework used to price all exotic derivatives is based on the Black-Scholes option pricing theory, in which dynamic hedging is used to obtain an arbitrage-free equation for the option price. Although we can always obtain a p.d.e. for all exotic derivatives, an analytic solution cannot always be obtained. However, there exists a large range of exotics where an analytic solution is possible. An option on the product of two asset prices has an analytic solution.

Given two traded assets, an index can be created where the value of the index at some time $$ t $$ is defined as,

$$ S(t)=\frac{P_1(t)P_2(t)}{P_1(0)P_2(0)} $$

where $$ t=0 $$ is the time at which the index is created and $$ S(0)=1 $$. An option can be written on this index with payoff at expiry $$ T $$,

$$ C(T)=\max [ S(T) - 1 ,0] $$

Since the option is only a function of $$ P_1 $$, $$ P_2 $$ and $$t$$, given the s.d.e.s for the prices of the two assets,

$$ \frac{dP_1(t)}{P_1(t)}=m_1 dt + \sigma_1 dW_t^1 $$

$$ \frac{dP_2(t)}{P_2(t)}=m_2 dt + \sigma_2 dW_t^2 $$

(where $$ dW_t^1 dW_t^2 = \rho dt $$) Itô's lemma can be applied the price of the option to give,

$$ dC=\left[ \frac{\partial C}{\partial t} + m_1 P_1(t)\frac{\partial C}{\partial P_1} + m_2 P_2(t)\frac{\partial C}{\partial P_2} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_1^2 P_1(t)^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1^2} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_2^2 P_2(t)^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_2^2} + \sigma_1 \sigma_2 \rho P_1(t) P_2(t) \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1\partial P_2}\right] dt + \sigma_1 \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_1} P_1(t) dW_t^1+ \sigma_2 \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_2}P_2(t) dW_t^2 $$

A portfolio consisting of $1 of the option, $$ -\partial C / \partial P_1 $$ of asset 1 and $$ -\partial C / \partial P_2 $$ of asset 2 must therefore have an s.d.e. given by,

$$ d\left( C -  \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_1} P_1(t) - \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_2} P_2(t)\right)=\left[ \frac{\partial C}{\partial t} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_1^2 P_1(t)^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1^2} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_2^2 P_2(t)^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_2^2} + \sigma_1 \sigma_2 \rho P_1(t) P_2(t) \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1\partial P_2}\right] dt $$

Since this portfolio has no sources of risk, in the absence of arbitrage it must have an instantaneous return equal to the risk-free rate $$ r $$. Therefore the last equation gives rise to the following p.d.e.:

$$ rC= \frac{\partial C}{\partial t} + r P_1\frac{\partial C}{\partial P_1} + r P_2\frac{\partial C}{\partial P_2} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_1^2 P_1^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1^2} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma_2^2 P_2^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_2^2} + \sigma_1 \sigma_2 \rho P_1 P_2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1\partial P_2}

$$

From the payoff function of this option we can deduce that the pricing equation can be transformed into a two-dimensional one with variables $$ t$$ and $$ P = P_1 P_2 $$. Note that,

$$ \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_1}=P_2\frac{\partial C}{\partial P} $$

$$ \frac{\partial C}{\partial P_2}=P_1\frac{\partial C}{\partial P} $$

$$ \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1^2}=P_2^2\frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P^2} $$

$$ \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_2^2}=P_1^2\frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P^2} $$

$$ \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P_1 \partial P_2}=P_1 P_2\frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P^2}+\frac{\partial C}{\partial P} $$

Therefore the p.d.e. can be simplified to,

$$ rC= \frac{\partial C}{\partial t} + m P\frac{\partial C}{\partial P} + \frac{1}{2} \sigma^2 P^2 \frac{\partial^2 C}{\partial P^2} $$

where,

$$ m=2r+\sigma_1 \sigma_2 \rho $$

and,

$$ \sigma=\sqrt{\sigma_1^2+\sigma_2^2+2 \sigma_1 \sigma_2 \rho} $$

and boundary condition $$ C(T) = \max[P(T)/P(0) - 1 ] $$. This p.d.e. is the Black-Scholes p.d.e. for a call option and can be solved to give,

$$ C(0)= \exp[(m-r)T]N(h_1) - \exp[-rT]N(h_2) $$

where,

$$ h_1=\frac{\left(m + \frac{1}{2}\sigma^2 \right)\sqrt{T}}{\sigma} $$

$$ h_2=\frac{\left(m - \frac{1}{2}\sigma^2 \right)\sqrt{T}}{\sigma} $$

The same result can be obtained by starting with the risk-neutral processes for the two assets,

$$ \frac{dP_1(t)}{P_1(t)}=r dt + \sigma_1 d \tilde{W}_t^1 $$

$$ \frac{dP_2(t)}{P_2(t)}=r dt + \sigma_2 d \tilde{W}_t^2 $$

Using Itô's lemma, the process for the product of the two prices is,

$$ \frac{dP(t)}{P(t)}=m dt + \sigma d W_t $$

and the pricing equation derived using the p.d.e. follows.

Advanced Structures
Theoretically, the price of an option (or option premium)consists of two elements: the Intrinsic value and time value of an option. Therefore, Premium=Intrinsic value+Time value.

The price of an option consists of five things: Strike Price, Price of the underlying asset, Time to maturity, Risk-Free interest rate and Volatility. Since the first four can be read from the markets, the only unknown factor in the price of the option is volatility.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/


text:
Template:Miskito/Model

Model template for Miskito language course
 * parameter 1: models (use bullets or numbers)
 * parameter 2: translations (use bullets or numbers)

title: Template:Miskito/Model


text:
User:KostaToronto/Foucault Wikibook

Foucault Wikibook

 * Start with The Order of Things, followed by The Archaeology of Knowledge (the former fully develops his archaeological method, and the latter methodically formulates it). Next, do The History of Madness and The Birth of the Clinic (these being specific delvings into discourse about madness specifically)
 * Refer to http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault for the "Influences" chapter and general background info

title: User:KostaToronto/Foucault Wikibook


text:
User:KostaToronto/Work in Progress Book

To Wikibook admins: This page can be deleted entirely.

KostaToronto(Talk) 14:09, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User:KostaToronto/Work in Progress Book


text:
Template:Miskito/Vocab head

Vocab heading template for Miskito language course
 * parameter 1: instructions (or leave a space)

  Vocabulary Miskito vocabulary · English vocabulary · Abbreviations · Subject index

title: Template:Miskito/Vocab head


text:
ERP Internals/Glossary/Average

A method of costing inventory. Contrast with FIFO and LIFO.

title: ERP Internals/Glossary/Average


text:
User talk:Tedblack~enwikibooks

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 18:56, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Financial Derivatives
Hi - could you elaborate on your comment on this page. I would like to be quite happy in my mind that there was no possible copyright violation? An answer here will be fine or added to your comment on the talk page - thanks & regards -- Herby talk thyme 18:56, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The main issue is that the author does not seem to have an adequate grasp of Financial Derivatives theory and relies too much on passages from the classic textbook by J Hull. Therefore the issue is not copyright but whether the author has sufficient grasp of the theory to provide something better or original. Wikibooks can have as good a contribution to this subject as Prentice Hall!--Tedblack 10:19, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks a lot for the clarification (copyright is a real issue). However if the content is not good to you this is a Wiki - feel free to improve it!  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 12:59, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Your account will be renamed
Hello,

The developer team at Wikimedia is making some changes to how accounts work, as part of our on-going efforts to provide new and better tools for our users like cross-wiki notifications. These changes will mean you have the same account name everywhere. This will let us give you new features that will help you edit and discuss better, and allow more flexible user permissions for tools. One of the side-effects of this is that user accounts will now have to be unique across all 900 Wikimedia wikis. See the announcement for more information.

Unfortunately, your account clashes with another account also called Tedblack. To make sure that both of you can use all Wikimedia projects in future, we have reserved the name Tedblack~enwikibooks that only you will have. If you like it, you don't have to do anything. If you do not like it, you can pick out a different name.

Your account will still work as before, and you will be credited for all your edits made so far, but you will have to use the new account name when you log in.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Yours, Keegan Peterzell Community Liaison, Wikimedia Foundation 23:49, 17 March 2015 (UTC)

Renamed
 This account has been renamed as part of single-user login finalisation. If you own this account you can |log in using your previous username and password for more information. If you do not like this account's new name, you can choose your own using this form after logging in: . -- Keegan (WMF) (talk) 05:35, 19 April 2015 (UTC)

title: User talk:Tedblack~enwikibooks


text:
User talk:85.249.239.138

Thanks for experimenting with Wikibooks. Your test worked, and has now been removed. Please use Sandbox for any other tests you want to do, since testing material in modules will normally be removed quickly. Please see the welcome page if you would like to learn more about contributing to our project. Thanks. -- Herby talk thyme 19:27, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

Please stop adding nonsense to Wikibooks. It is considered vandalism. If you would like to experiment, use the sandbox. Thank you. -- Herby talk thyme 08:06, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:85.249.239.138


text:
User talk:Herbythyme/Compost4

'''This is my talk page archive - don't edit it. New messages on my talk page, thanks'''

Happy new years
Hey Herby, happy new years. No problem on the redirects, I do stuff like that when I'm bored (which happens depressingly often, hahaha), though don't they have a bot on Wikipedia to fix them? Maybe we could pilfer the use of that next time. Regards. Mattb112885 21:27, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

 * To you, too!

Happy New Years to you and yours, too! Best wishes achieving your goals. User:Iamunknown 22:45, 31 December 2006 (UTC)

 * Thanks for the user-page compliment. :D User:Iamunknown 03:15, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Likewise! I'll drink a toast to you tonight. --xixtas 02:34, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks! hope you had a great new years. : ) --Az1568(Talk) 21:53, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Congradulations (or.... perhaps Run and Hide!)
You have just achieved the "minimum" number of votes necessary for having the "Checkuser" privilege granted to your account. This is a very, very necessary tool for us to use here on Wikibooks, and don't get into the BS that some (*cough*) certain individuals have used that advocate a very minimalist use of chechuser rights. This is something that I have fought long and hard to "permit" projects like Wikibooks to be able to have users with these user administration tools.

Mind you, I'm not advocating that you publish in a public place everything that you may see, but it isn't really as big of a deal as the Meta page would have you believe. I strongly believe the standard for having checkuser rights is way too high, but that is an issue best left for other fora besides your talk page.

On the whole, congratulations. It is "possible" that there may be some other objections, but a 26-1 vote in support for you is pretty good. That you havn't made too many enemies over the time you have been editing here is also something remarkable as well, and that speaks volumes over your conduct here on Wikibooks.

If somebody else didn't beat me to it, I'll make sure your name goes up on Meta as an elegible account for the stewards to change the checkuser status in the next few days. We aren't in a particular rush to get this to happen, but it is nice to see that we will have some more users with this authority. --Rob Horning 07:47, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I'd like to add a second to Rob's congrats. Thanks for all you do here, but especially all you do for me and my project! Jim Thomas 01:25, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

RE: Acoustics module
The link I took out went to the main page of the book. It had poor naming convention, and so when I fixed the naming convention the link to the main page of the book appeared. I also appreciate your understanding of my edit summary ways. I sometimes forget to do the summary. Tannersf 13:03, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

No Biggie :)
I had just put it together with the dispute stuff in the interests of having both good and bad stuff on that page. Do you have your ideas written down somewhere? I'm a bit stuck on where to go twith that part.

The Dispute Resolution parts are also aimed to keep it simple... mediation when possible, and if mediation is ineffective, it automatically moves up to arbitration. Hopefully this won't need to be used often, which is another reason to have the other stuff linked from the same page (so that we don't only see that page pop up when it's dire circumstances). -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:31, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Do your own what? -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:34, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Oh sorry, I was reverting Robert... I guess since I was editing an old version it didn't show up as an edit conflict. I'll add your stuff back :) -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:35, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I didn't mean to revert you... see my edit comment (so users are supposed to fight it out for a couple months?!?!?) :). I still think arbitration should go below mediation though, preferably at the bottom rather than the top, as I'd like the "positive" elements to take precedence. -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:39, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Are you still here? (I really wish you used IRC!) -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:49, 1 January 2007 (UTC)
 * You have mail. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:13, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

WMOG stuff
"WMOG project" is for meta pages (look in the category and you'll see what I mean). I'm going to move the template and stub categories in there too... just housecleaning.

If you come across subpages that aren't categorized, just put them into the main category (Category:A Wikimanual of Gardening). Caught one yesterday that was a bad transwiki, there might be others like that as well. -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:38, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

OMG!!!! Please stop! I spent hours and hours emptying that main category!!!!!!! -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:43, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

I did answer you, look above :). Only uncategorized ones should go there... I've been sorting the others because the main category was too big (I don't like categories over 200 pages, probably stems from my previous life as a wikipedian). Those other categories are subcategories of the main one, so adding the main one is redundant (and looks messy on printouts). -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:48, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * It took hours because I had to decide category names, substructure, etc. I also edit the pages a bit while I'm doing it... some of the really old stuff still talks about "volumes", which are all gone now :).
 * The new pages I make are auto-catted when I templatize them. -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:50, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Yeah, no alphas on many of them as it stands now, but I'm getting there. I'm updating the LMOS now, will let you know when I'm done. Prolly not much need for a bot though, since each page requires a separate decision (though you're more than welcome to add the alphas. -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:55, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks Herbythyme.

Urbane User 17:24, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks Herbythyme, that would be a great help.

 * UserTalk 17:56, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes I use firefox
Hey Herby, yes I use firefox, though if you gave me a script I would have no idea what to do with it (I'm assuming .js is javascript?), if it's something that's easy to do and doesn't require admin priveleges I wouldn't mind taking a hack at it. Mattb112885 04:45, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hey Herby. thanks a lot for telling me about this, this is pretty cool, now to figure out how to use it! I'll take that line out now (shoulda seen that one), not sure what is out there but Ill look around for sure! Regards, Mattb112885 15:47, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hey Herby, haven't really messed around with too much yet. I use AdBlock because flash ads in particular are just damn annoying. Other than that, nothing really, what is NoScript? Maybe I'll look into it. Other than adblock my browser has what came installed with it, I don't like putting too much on it, after all it takes up a large percentage of my CPU as it is! I really messed around with my windows XP settings though because it drove me crazy with some of the stuff it was doing (especially the security center which I finally figured out how to block, I'll manage my own security thank you Microsoft).
 * Popups are pretty cool, is there a way to make it so it waits a little longer before it pops up? If not I'll just adjust to moving my mouse a little to the right after a split second, cuz it covers up the link. Sometimes I accidentally rest my mouse on a link when I'm reading something, and it blocks the view, thats kinda annoying but comes with the territory. I wouldn't want to use popups on wikipedia, it's not so bad here though! Regards. Mattb112885 21:34, 2 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hey, I installed Noscript, its pretty cool, doesn't seem too obtrusive, thanks for the heads up. Also made some mods to the popups, I don't like summaries since I'm on a dialup modem, so I turned them off with the delay and it works much better. If I find anything interesting I'll let you know. (you need an invitation to gmail? I would gladly send you one, hahaha). Regards, Mattb112885 18:11, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the Welcome
Thanks for the welcome! Avenue of Covina 06:40, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Much appreciated on the bot! Avenue of Covina 08:31, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

BfR
Sounds good to me. Were you thinking of incorporating this into the RfC, or have it something separate? I guess I was thinking of the RfC as taking on some of the things currently on SL, which is generally dominated by policy debate and so gets hard to watch (well, hard to watch for other reasons too, I s'pose :P). There was talk many moons ago about possibly splitting SL like the wp VP, this is something a bit short of that. -- SB_Johnny | talk 14:48, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

vfd
Were you refering to my closing of the "Unsolved Archive" vote or my actual vote for the Imamat page? I closed "Unsolved Archive" as generally people wanted it deleting (although I voted to keep it). Xania talk 16:43, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Regarding the clutter on Staff Lounge. I'd prefer not to see the creation of yet another page WB:RFC as this would just make the problem worse especially if it's known by its initials which just frightens off many people - we have too many vfds, rfas, rfcs and other strange pages with no central place linking to them all. Xania talk 21:57, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Damn succession
Herby, I would really appreciate your comments on Votes_for_deletion when you get up. I'm of for a while tomorrow and would love to finish this off before then. I'll be around on and off today (GMT). --Swift 09:27, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

I'd like to strongly disagree with your closing of the VfD! The debate should revolve around how the page is now, not what it was then. Changes have been made (not since the hold -- which I don't think is a fruitful practice, by the way). There is only one voice for keep, but it should be the quality of the argument, not the number of voices that should matter. If Xanias objections are weak, then we should wait till they are addressed. If not, we should keep.

Johnny's and Whiteknight's comments were made before SH's changes. I do vote delete, but don't want it deleted as long as someone wants it in on Xanias grounds. Please change this back and wait till my questions to Kellen have been sufficiently countered.

My concerns here are for process. For the sake of the community, we should seek the widest consensus reasonable -- I don't think Xania's objections have been reasonably countered (and think snubbing him/her isn't conductive for harmony). The lesson here is patience and restraint, I believe.

I'm off in a few hours and since I have no attachments to this book, I won't make a case out of it -- but I urge you to reopen the debate to finish the discussion (if Xania wants the book, then the there is only one question: does the book currently violate policy -- I'd say no and therefore proposed the compromise). --Swift 06:23, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

hey, how do you delete images
Hey herby, is it possible to delete images from the server, images that have been uploaded? Li 14:00, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Blocked : )
Morning Herby! No, I was testing my changes to MediaWiki:Blockedtext to see if they would show up correctly to other blocked users. --Az1568(Talk) 08:42, 4 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sure, I'll probably add it later today. (it's 12:51 AM for me) --Az1568(Talk) 08:53, 4 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikijunior Naming Convention
What we are using is "Wikijunior %Book Title%" with no slashes or colons. So I think the book is named in accordance with the others. The colon has a special meaning (I think it designates a separate name space?) so I had always assumed that was why all the books weren't named "Wikijunior: %Book Title%" (e.g. Wikijunior: South America) All things being equal, I'd support renaming everything with the Wikijunior: %Book Title% format. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by xixtas (talk • contribs).

Checkuser
I noticed your request while on Whiteknight's talk page. You need to go to requests for permissions and request such a thing. However, CheckUser is done in pairs by how I see it so your voting buddy needs to be at 25 Support as well before it can happen. Since we already have two users that might not matter, but it can't hurt to wait I would think. -within focus 02:18, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

VfD candidate and a probable Copyright Violation
If you can try to check Ghost_Online/Monster page it doesn't have any links coming from other pages, it is active, and it has pictures that are probably wrongly used. (see the link at the bottom of the page) --Panic 18:50, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Other book with a similar problem is Gears_of_War_Guide/Table_of_Contents... --Panic 23:33, 6 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Hmm... that looks like a cut and paste from List of Gears of War characters & adversaries, he even left the refs [1] in the text.--Az1568(Talk) 23:37, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Bot Help with Typo
The template used for Wikijunior Bugs had a typo (metamorphosis not metamorphisis) can you fix it up easily? If not I can do them one by one. --xixtas

Happy new year to you too
Well... the title says it all. :-) --Dragontamer 01:05, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Proxy
Yay more proxies! MichaelBillington from Wikiversity just sent me the full 15 lists :) Hopefully, will get all of them blocked this month or next month.--Az1568(Talk) 10:47, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

PS: See User:Az1568/Proxy --Az1568(Talk) 11:13, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for telling me about Section 1: How Science Works. Everybody makes mistakes some times and don't even realize them. Tannersf 12:35, 6 January 2007 (UTC)

Hey
Since you're awake at this hour (are you from America, or Europe?) and deleting stuff, I figured I'd tag some orphaned redirects for your deletion pleasure. I still wonder if there's a better way to see them, does the "orphaned pages" page usually include redirects? Regards, Mattb112885 10:33, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Sorry, one other random question; I can understand why we would want to delete orphaned fair use images (since they're not fair use if they're not being used), but why would we want to delete an orphaned PD image, if it's not doing any harm there? Unless we're worried about server space or there's a replacement on Commons or something... regards, Mattb112885 10:35, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Not sure about watchlists, but I clicked "what links here" and there was nothing at any of them. Maybe I should do a test to see if moving a page moves the watchlist link too or not. And I understand about the rambling, it's no problem :). Regards Mattb112885 10:40, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * OK after a real quick test I found that, indeed, the "what links here" does not include watchlist links. However this is not an issue because the new page is automatically added to peoples' watch lists when the page is moved, so any changes made will still be visible. Hope this helps. Regards, Mattb112885 10:50, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Request
Thanks for approaching me with this request. I will always be willing to help with this sort of thing in the future.

Urbane User 12:09, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Bots?
Do you know what kinds of things can bots do? i have heard of them being used for checking for spelling errors, but that about it. What can they do and how do they work. Are they manual or automated?

any information regarding these would be greatly apreciated.

Urbane User 14:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

RFA Graphic
I personally don't find that to be much of a bite, and the user is by far no newbie to wiki projects since apparently he/she is a German Wikibooks administrator and has a large number of edits there. That graphic was obviously placed to stand out and had no purpose being there or being that large which I have to assume the user noticed due to their previous wiki experience yet still left which to me counts as being purposefully offensive. I'm also a bit confused why that user showed up here just to blast welcome messages across user pages. -within focus 17:11, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

Deletion for Kurt's articles
Hi Herby, I guess these two articles of Kurt were also supposed to be deleted? thank you, --Zddune 17:37, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Theology/Urantian theology
 * Urantia United Foreword

Personal Information
Yeah, I really don't like that link that you sent me. That page makes Wikibooks more useful to spam bots than actual students I would think. I feel that stuff like that should be taken down since the people listed there might not even want to be listed. -within focus 18:48, 7 January 2007 (UTC)
 * We'll see where the Staff Lounge discussion goes, but I think we need to remove those things. -within focus 21:28, 7 January 2007 (UTC)

[Re] Reg Hacking
Thanks for your kind help. I'm myself also looking for people who can help in expanding the book. Basically I want this book to be only dedicated for registry related tweaks. Thanks for the link, it is really useful. I hope to see some help from you side too :) -- seXie ♭♭c 11:57, 8 January 2007 (UTC) EDIT: What about a book on gpedit.msc (Group Policy editor) too? -- seXie ♭♭c 12:00, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Checkuser
Congrats in the checkuser upgrade. If you have any questions about them, let me know. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 20:51, 8 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I've answered on my user talk on meta. M/ 15:07, 9 January 2007 (UTC)

Hello from WikiCast..
Hi

A recipe in the WikiBooks Cookbook on which you assisted is being considered for adaptation by WikiCast, a project aiming to produce 'free' content audio programmes for download or pod cast.

As you assisted on the recipe it would be appreciated if you got in touch? I have a user page on en:Wikipedia. ShakespeareFan00 02:10, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Job
Hi Herbythyme,

i have read your Message at my talk page. I would try to do it. One question if how meny edits i should add him/her (between 10-20 bigger one or 30-50 of smaller and typos)?

Thanks for the offer and a good day wishs --Sundance Raphael 17:08, 10 January 2007 (UTC)

Mach's principle new stub page
Hi Herbythyme me creating the Mach's principle stub page was not an error. 68.40.191.129 09:14, 11 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Applescript Programming
Hi and thanks for the welcomes. I was wondering if this redirection can be killed? I don't consider it nessessary. I think it'll be only beneficial if that address/path don't exist. As it will, for example, shorten search-result. --F-3000 13:41, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I'll limit the question asking to "wikibooks", of course. :) But if you have any thoughts how I could/should improve the appearance of my "tutorial", I will appreciate it great deal if you'll let me know. --F-3000 14:29, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: That one!
Well... that was fun : ) looks like my autoblock script works but it's using the wrong reason. :P - I'll get it fixed sooner or later.--Az1568(Talk) 09:04, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

 * No problem - as for that page, I've never heard of that language or seen it on enwp so it could be made up. I would leave a note on the authors talk page first tho, before going any further afd, speedy .etc--Az1568(Talk) 09:28, 13 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Night : ) --Az1568(Talk) 09:41, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Someone just decided to change the entire language :P (see this diff) - weird --Az1568(Talk) 01:24, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

User talk
Herbythyme, i need some guidance.

Upon editing my userpage and talk page something has gone wrong. For some reason my talk page is now protected and, whenever i try to do anything with it, add a comment or change anything i receive a link the a redirect page, which tells me "this page has been protected from recreation due to repeat vandalism". I checked, and there is only me who has done anyhitng to it recently.

Do you know what would cause this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Urbane User (talk • contribs) 17:44, 13 Jan 2007 (UTC)

Cookbook copyvios
G'day mate. I took a look at the Cookbook: copyvios, and can't see why you would feel the need to seek a second opinion. Each instance looks to be a fairly clear case of copyvio, generally word-for-word, and many of them explicitly declaring a copyright notice on the source page or elsewhere on the source website. cheers, Webaware talk 00:57, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

The new Naijigo wikibook
Have you seen Naijigo? I am pretty sure it is a newly-constructed and undocumented conlang. If it is such, it should not be on Wikibooks. I want to talk to the contributors and ask them if my inclinations are correct. I'm rather exhausted, however, and have noticed that I am not as amiable as I think I might be when chatting online. Would you consider dealing with the situation? I would really, really appreciate that. Please tell me whether you decide to or not to. User:Iamunknown 01:42, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Do you want to volunteer as a potential member of editorial boards?
See Volunteer_editors

Also Editorial board,Wikipublish and the discussion in the staff lounge. RobinH 15:10, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

Stop Deleting
It's vandalism boyo! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 194.82.168.3 (talk • contribs) 11:13, 16 Jan 2007 (UTC)

Oversight
User:Herbythyme I think you just moved the discussion about Oversight permission form the staff lounge to Requests for adminship, it would be advantageous that a note should be placed there if you agree with my assertion. --Panic 17:39, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks!
Thanks for reverting the vandalism on my usertalk page. this one actually made me laugh! --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 21:37, 16 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for the welcome, Herby! --A R King 08:24, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Wikijunior Bot Run
Thanks for doing that. I don't know whether individual articles should be in that Natural World Category or not. I guess so. But I don't know how this is handled in other books. --xixtas 14:45, 17 January 2007 (UTC)
 * My thanks also Urbane User (Talk)   (Contributions)  19:16, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Herby, I'm sorry I didn't respond to your questions more quickly. I should have, and I intended to. The only explanation I have is that I'm somewhat uncomfortable with being regarded as a Wikijunior authority. I didn't know the answer to the second question, and hadn't made it around to finishing up the template for bugs yet. There's a lot of stuff around here that I don't understand, and how and why certain pages are categorized the way they are (or are not) is definitely one of them. --xixtas 04:38, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Page blanking
moving to a new name Basic Geography from Pre-university Geography Franko2nd 16:32, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

yes please, i decided the old name was naff Franko2nd 16:39, 17 January 2007 (UTC)

Re: Idle curiosity
I was cleaning my user page's history (see Special:Undelete) It's somewhat like oversight but without having the reversions being permanently hidden.--Az1568(Talk) 03:36, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
 * BTW see this User_talk:Az1568. So please change the part that says wpCreateAccount to {x.checked=false;} }) in your js. thx : ) --Az1568(Talk) 05:24, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Your thoughts on the staff lounge
If you have time and would like to get involved, please consider adding your thoughts to my staff lounge brainstorming page. --User:Iamunknown 05:10, 18 January 2007 (UTC)

Re:Help request page
can you help at all? This is a wiki, and everybody can help! I don't need to tell you, one of the most terminally helpful people we have. The way I see it, we have a few small sub-tasks involved in creating this new page: This brings up my next question, when do we want to deliver the next gazette? --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 13:49, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
 * 1) Delete/archive all the old entries on WB:VIP.
 * 2) Draft the new page (we need a name for it), Get Help, or Help Request would be good candidates, or Contact Staff.
 * 3) Redirect the old WB:VIP and Administrator's noticeboard pages to the new page.
 * 4) Update the text in the deletion policy, and any other policy pages (including the welcome template) to point to the new page in lieu of the old pages
 * 5) Get all the admins to put the new page on their watchlists (possibly by including mention of it in the gazette).

Spelling
Hi Herby, I will accept you help and if you have the time I will ask you to keep an eye on Arbitration/Panic2k4 vs. SBJohnny/Defendant Rebuttal and provide any spelling correction you are able to. txs for any help you may provide. --Panic 20:22, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I've made a couple of small spelling changes (& will look again tomorrow). I do think you need to break up the first paragraph to make it readable.  I will help to make your words better if I can -- Herby  talk thyme 20:48, 18 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Txs I'm about finished, without getting involved since you are reading the stuff if you see anyway I can provide more useful information or state anything more clearly or improve upon I'll appreciate...
 * I will finish probably tomorrow with the closing words section, txs again for the help. --Panic 02:04, 19 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I have made some minor adjustments to your text in terms of spelling and punctuation but you must revert anything you feel does not reflect your views. However I do feel you should look again at the "Paddu paragraphs" as these are not easily readable to me.  Breaking it up into smaller sentences may help and I will happily review it again if you wish me to do so.  Regards -- Herby  talk thyme 11:07, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

Pong
A good day to you too, and thanks for the thumbs up. Rwst 09:44, 19 January 2007 (UTC)

ERP Internals
Yes, the two sections are duplicates. Sorry, I'm still figuring out the system. [[User:AlanClifford|AlanClifford

Images
G'day, I've listed the images for undeletion on Votes for undeletion. Unfortunately, this only takes into account images that I can see red links for - there are doubtless a large number of other images similarly deleted in error, but for which there are no red links, due to the tireless efforts of the "image cleanup" crew in the days leading up to the Season of Jolly :( Webaware talk 02:33, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Ofer the Fawn - The Water Riddle
Hello there - I was wondering about your post (in my user) - isn't wikibook publishing PDF files of published books? I uploaded the PDF file (it is GNU copyright by the author) yet you wrote me about deletion. Please clarify. It is an amazing work, published and sold, the author just released the PDF source for free. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Moshe buchrai (talk • contribs) 08:31, 20 Jan 2007 (UTC)

please delete files
hi herby, i restructured some of the material into fewer categories ad i was hoping you might be able to help by deleting a few files. the files are

 * Animal Behavior/Definition of Animal Behavior
 * Animal Behavior/Tinbergen's 4 Aims
 * Animal Behavior/History of Animal Behavior
 * Animal Behavior/History of Psychophysics
 * Animal Behavior/History of Psychoanalysis
 * Animal Behavior/History of Behaviorism
 * Animal Behavior/History of Neuroscience
 * Animal Behavior/History of Ethology
 * Animal Behavior/History of Behavioral Genetics
 * Animal Behavior/History of Behavioral Ecology
 * Sociobiology
 * Animal Behavior/History of Neuroethology

thanks a major stack, ciao, Robert Huber 11:22, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

undeletion
I undeleted Cookbook:Microwave Oven as it is a better-than-nothing page on a standard piece of equipment. I didn't see any VFD for it anywhere, though you mentioned one in your deletion comment. Kellen T 18:47, 20 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Jaha! Yeah I think the recipes are more the things that need to die, but the ingredient/equipment pages are generally okay as stubs. Cheers. Kellen T 19:06, 20 January 2007 (UTC)

Question & templates
Herbythyme,

How are things?

I was wondering, if i had a piece of text that i frequently had to write, is there a way to make this into a template of sorts. i.e. like the user signiture appearing with the use of the four tildes. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Urbane User (talk • contribs) 10:12, 21 Jan 2007 (UTC)

 * I was thinking something along the lines of welcome templates, for example. I would like to begin sending out welcome messages to new user, like the one i received from you. However i do not relish the idea of typing each one in their entirity. Is there a way of saving a large block of text, and then inserting it into a discussion page without copying and pasting? By typing a shortcut or similar?  —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Urbane User (talk • contribs) 10:25, 21 Jan 2007  (UTC)

Keep an eye
On this page Japanese:_Basic_Japanese someone create it with some "spam", I removed the "spam" but did not tag the page, if no evolution is detected on it it should be SD I think. Txs. --Panic 07:22, 22 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks -- Herby talk thyme 08:11, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Of words and swords
G'day mate, and thanks. I always find that the word is mightier than the boot. cheers, Webaware talk 10:18, 13 January 2007 (UTC)

Welsh
Good to see someone getting involved in the learn Welsh book, but can I ask : Why change Gymru back to Cymru? What did you base this on? Kijog 17:12, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Thaks for the {welcome} :-). SallesNeto BR 17:36, 24 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for the welcome
It's always funny when I get one of those now. I average over 1000 edits per month at the English Wikipedia, so I really don't consider myself "new" anymore. I've also done a bit of editing here, too (enough to realize the differences). Aside from what the guideboook for Wikipedians says, is there anything that you regularly see Wikipedians run afoul of here? Things especially experienced Wikipedians tend to do that ruffle the feathers over here? Things I should avoid. :-) Have a great day! --Willscrlt 13:41, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * P.S. I love your user account name. :-) I wish the WikiProject Herbs and Spices at Wikipedia would pick up. I'd be much more interested in that than mixed drinks (which has become my specialty niche at Wikipedia and now here). --Willscrlt 13:42, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * So avoid Wikifying everything, eh? I shall do my best to restrain myself. Hehe. Thanks for the warning. Here is the link to WikiProject Herbs and spices. The project is currently in inactive status, and I am afraid it is likely to get deleted (hopefully WikiBooks is not as big into deleting things quite so much) unless we can show some modest interest in it. --Willscrlt 14:44, 25 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Let's try that again: WikiProject Herbs and spices and if that doesn't work, just go to Wikipedia and use the shortcut WP:HERBS which I just setup. I also took the project off of inactive status. As to deletionism, I'm rather middle of the road. I just look at the article, and depending on a lot of different issues, I make choices accordingly. Generally, I tend to pull the useful info into other places where it is a good fit, and then create a redirect. Of course, so far, I've mostly been editing mixed drinks and cocktails, and since "Wikipedia is not a collection of recipes" and nearly every article I edit contains a recipe, I've been dealing with a lot of deletion on those grounds. :-) I've mellowed a lot since I started, but it was really frustrating when I was starting out. --Willscrlt (Talk·Cntrb ) 16:12, 25 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for pointing out the signature problem. That was embarrassing, and I hadn't noticed yet. Let's hope this works now. --Willscrlt (Talk·Cntrb ) 12:00, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thanks for the pointer. Urbane User (Talk)   (Contributions)  14:33, 26 January 2007 (UTC)

Much thanks
I thank you for the welcome note. --Odhiambo 02:41, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

rehi Herby
I'm back... somewhat darker skinned and quite refreshed :). As for the Wikiversity stuff, maybe just let me know which pages are being worked on and I'll try to see if they've already been imported. Wikiversity moves out of the "beta" phase at the end of February, after which I plan to do some vigorous deleting (and perhaps scrapbooking stuff to be merged into textbooks). -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:40, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

pseudonyms
User:Wknight8111 is indeed a pseudonym of mine. The username w:User:Whiteknight is owned by another user on wikipedia, so on that project my primary account is w:User:wknigh8111 (if you can refer to my inactivity as "primary"). When SUL happens, I will be the owner of both account names (along with User:Andrew Whitworth, which i've reserved here and on meta). --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 22:50, 28 January 2007 (UTC)

 * Sorry, i didn't even see the punctuation error! The page was created in error, some time ago, by my bot. Thanks for catching it, I've just deleted it. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 15:09, 29 January 2007 (UTC)

On Wikibreak?
I haven't been as active around here recently as I would have liked, but I'm active enough to know that you seem busy/disgruntled. I hope you aren't too stressed out! --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 20:22, 30 January 2007 (UTC)

 * I can certainly understand your sentiment about this, and I had no idea that the VfD issue was one that frustrated you so badly! On issues that I don't have a strong opinion about (such as this VfD issue), I tend to follow the lead of people who do have strong opinions. My reasoning here is that the people who care strongly are more likely to have thought about the issue in more depth then I ever would. My laissez-faire approach to such matters is perhaps not admirable, however.
 * There have been mixed feelings about the cookbook for as long as I can remember, even long before it got it's own namespace. People claiming that it isn't a textbook, or that it violates all sorts of other policies. The creation of the namespace was supposed to aide in organization, but people have been grmbling ever since that it created an unnecessary rift in the community here. Unfortunately, I can't say I have a strong opinion on this issue either, as I have spent no time interacting with the cookbook at all. I do think it is probably too late now to make the cookbook an "ordinary" book.
 * Policy matters are always very frustrating, there are certainly alot of people here who refuse to make progress. People who do want to make progress get frustrated and leave. I originally fought so hard for the Decision making proposal specifically because I didn't want the hard-working movers and shakers to be stymied by the critics and nay-sayers. However, that guideline just doesnt seem to be enough to overcome these problems.
 * On a personal note, I hope that you feel better about this, and that you find a way to enjoy wikibooks again in the way that it should be enjoyed. Nobody comes to this webpage because it's a requirement or a "job", we are all here because we either believe in the mission, or because we find some enjoyment in it. It is my sincere hope that you can continue to find some small measure of happiness in it still. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 15:39, 31 January 2007 (UTC)

Re:Comment
User:Withinfocus has announced his decision to have Panic blocked at the end of the arbitration. He has given Panic about a 24 hour window to post and last rebuttals before the block takes effect. It is for this reason, i think, that panic's posts have become more petulant and less helpful. I do not fault him for this. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 19:16, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Involved or not, I'm just happy to hear from you! i'm just worried that the day will come when all our most valuable contributors get tired of this little place and leave forever. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects)

Finance To-Do & Contributors
Hi Herby, Thanks for dropping a line - I will redirect them to the Principles of Finance To Do and Contributor respectively.

--Venky 08:58, 2 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Hi can the pages be deleted? I favor deletion over redirect as there will be unnecessary page on the site.

 * --Venky 09:04, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hi Herby, thanks a lot for the deletion template. I have used the { { deletedpage } } template to delete it. You have been a great help. Thank you.

 * --Venky 12:46, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hi Herby, I require help from you regarding the InfoBox. I used the bi template and it still does not show the infobox. Can you please take a look at it when you are free and let me know where or what I am doing wrong. Thanks in advance.
 * --Venky 13:10, 2 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hi herby, thanks for the tip about the user boxes. Also, I will make the necessary changes to the old To do and contributors page. I was talking about the bi template. That has to be put in for the infobox, yes the infoboxes for both Finance and Principles of Finance exist. Before deleting the infobox for Finance, I wanted to cross check with you.
 * --Venky 08:50, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hi Herby, thanks for the speedy deletion and also the tip about the signature,I want to know how you have made the small superscript where people can click on it to come to the talk page, I tried it by using your siggy but it didnt work. Actually, what I meant was I was trying to incorporate the Principles of Finance Infobox into the main page and I was unable to do so. Can you take a look at it and tell me what is it that I should do to get it right? Thanks once again.
 * --Venky 13:35, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks Herby for the tip. I finally realised what I was doing wrong, I had not checked the raw signature box, :), now it is working, :D Thanks a lot.
 * -- Venky Msg Me 07:56, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Hi Herby, thanks for checking out the Infobox for me. The problem is the infobox is not appearing on the page like it does on say the French book, where it appears on the top right hand corner if you use the default theme.
 * -- Venky Msg Me 16:27, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Good to see you back
Hey Herby, its good to see you around now, we all really appreciate the work you've put into the project. I hope that for all of us, politics will not get in the way any longer of the goal of the project, which is (in my opinion) the collaborative production of content. I know you have the best interests of the project in mind, and we respect and appreciate that. Regards, Mattb112885 03:59, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Puzzled
There must be a reason for your moving Sweet Rice, but I'm puzzled: A search on "Sweet rice" no longer locates the recipe. And that recipe is linked to the Amar's Tofu recipe. Please help me understand the reason for the move and how folks will now find Sweet Rice. Thanks. Frankatca 00:35, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

 * *pop in* I'll pop in and answer this one. Frank, all the cookbook-related modules need to have the prefix "Cookbook:," thus, the module on sweet rice should be at Cookbook:Sweet rice. It is unfortunate that when users search, the cookbook is not also searched by default; that can be changed by an administrator, but I'm unsure how. I'm sure that next week when more administrators are online, someone will know how to fix the problem. Thanks for your interest in Wikibooks! *pop out* --Iamunknown 01:01, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Thanks, a bunch. I've now fixed the link to the sweet rice so it all works. I agree, that when in the Cookbook, adding a page to the cookbook should happen by default. I'm new to Wikibooks, but not the the main Wikipedia where I've been active for some time. I'll be adding a bunch of recipes to the cookbook over time. thanks for the help. Frankatca 18:01, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

Learning kitesurfing - new book
Hi. I just created a user account on Wikibooks and you left a message on my talk page. I have been working on the Wikipedia article on kitesurfing, which was recently tagged to indicate some of the "how to" content should be shifted to a Wikibook. Do you think this is a good idea? Should I create a Wikibook called "Learning kitesurfing"? Peter Campbell 10:44, 4 February 2007 (UTC)

New Media Art
I consider this work as a typical example of Original Research. The book does not cite any sources and I doubt it could cite any. However, SBJohnny insists it is a legitimate wikibook. I don't have time to carefully read New Media Art/Introduction, but for me the book does not fit here. --Derbeth talk 16:23, 8 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I'm not sure if threatening an user with block for adding pages incompliant with our policies is a good strategy. Please be more patient and do not bite the newcomers. Sometimes it's better just to repeat a request then to make a threat. If we aren't polite, new authors won't come here. --Derbeth talk 19:52, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Re:Why
It was a single instance, 2 hours is likely enough for the vandal to get bored and go on to other things. Anything longer would be pretty pretentious of me, that a vandalism of my user page warrants some kind of quick and decisive action. I didn't check if it was an open proxy or anything either, which I likely should have done. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 15:25, 12 February 2007 (UTC)

Have a good break
I value the work you have done here. Thanks for all the help you have given me. I look forward to seeing you around when you get back. --xixtas 03:09, 13 February 2007 (UTC)

Redirect script
G'day mate, that script you told me about, that highlights redirects, has just been updated. It now works properly, and faster. cheers, Webaware talk 09:19, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

Request for oversight
While there hasn't been as many people weighing in as I would have liked, I'd like to get things set up for working things out with Panic. I'm not biased either for or against him, I just want to get a permanent resolution to the issue so that it won't keep coming up over and over, and there's some concern that I might not be seen as entirely neutral by some.

My approach will just be to try to get him to come up with a set of guidelines for himself to follow in order to avoid future conflicts (or at least defusing them before they get over the top). Would you be willing to oversee this process as a neutral party? -- SB_Johnny | talk 14:37, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Well, I doubt there will be unanimous support, but hopefully not too many more arrows will fly around. I'll post something in the Staff lounge about it, discussing the block as well. My hope is that the process will be quick and quiet, and that the end result will be satisfactory to everyone, including Panic. -- SB_Johnny | talk 15:48, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

 * OK, have done here. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "firm about a real agreement" though... -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:13, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Herby, are you requiring a second round of "voting" on the SL, or is "no further objection" sufficient? There was fairly solid support for going forward with just me on the case (even Xania, the one objector, made it clear that he was willing to give it a chance since there seems to be a lack of alternatives), so I doubt any further objections will come to light because of your involvement (quite the contrary!). I ask because I'd like to just move forward and get the process moving... both because I want it out of the way and because I want Panic to be unblocked as soon as possible (I had left him a note to this effect on his talk earlier: the time required is up to him, and if he commits to a positive resolution tomorrow, he should be unblocked tomorrow).
 * Also just a technical matter: since we're agreed about switching the block to indefinite, should you make that change, or should I? Likewise when it's time to unblock, though when that time comes I think we should just make sure each of us agrees (but you're the boss... if you decide to unblock before I think it's time, I will not argue (much), but please give me time to comment before acting on that).
 * BTW, please make sure to add Panic's user talk to your watchlist. -- SB_Johnny | talk 18:11, 15 February 2007 (UTC)

 * For what little my support is worth, you have it 100%. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 00:25, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Same goes for me... on both counts. I'll mostly be working on commons this morning, so ping me there if you're around. -- SB_Johnny | talk 12:09, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

Phew! Anyone else we can encourage to do likewise?
Maybe now we won't end up with every recipe being redundantly listed in Category:Recipes with metric units. :-) Webaware talk 00:21, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
No worries. What you say makes a lot of sense. Less talking more action!

Afraid my contributions will be a bit sporadic as I fit them in among work and personal life, but I'll keep chipping away as I can. --AdRiley 12:20, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

thanks
Thanks very much for your kind intorduction to wikibooks. It's very nice to have someone politely giving helpful advice to us new to the project. DavidMcKenzie 16:13, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Impartial
You and I have had discussions about the process and you've shared your opinion sometimes on the matter at various pages. You are much more impartial than most but I don't want your past, if anything, to affect the proceedings. Bringing in another person that could be accused of bias or some other garbage is what concerns me, so please do not be personally offended. This is not about you but about bringing in another person. My advice would be to "OK it" with the community, that bringing you in to be (yet another) overseer of sorts just to make sure you really have the community behind you. Making sure this process occurs without strong objection is what I'm concerned about. -within focus 19:08, 16 February 2007 (UTC)
 * I did indeed notice that you want consensus before proceeding and that's the correct step. Johnny responded in a bit of a "I think we can just do it" way that I wanted to stay away from. I'm sure you've got the right idea and I don't want to interfere or get involved with the process any more than I have, so good luck. Whiteknight said it correctly when you are most likely "least partial." -within focus 19:28, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Re. Your message on my talk page
This has nothing whatsoever to do with your involvement. In fact I posted on someone's talk page (possibly SBJohnny's) only 2 days ago saying that you would be the perfect person to try to sort out this mess. I realise that some of my comments have been hasty but I still think my unblocking was partially justified but for now I'm trying to stay out of it all. Good luck. Xania talk 22:43, 16 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks
Thank you for the helpful comments that you left us on our Talk Page. -- The Boston Boys Fantasy Baseball League 03:38, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

puppet thing
There's more than enough info to go on... the "topic" of the spambot-generated stuff on wikipedia (from the IP) is ample evidence. They haven't done the CU yet, but the additional comment on the request only makes it more clear. -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:27, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

SL, Archives
I've never been a fan of archives myself, but there are plenty of people who would groan if i toyed around with the archive links. I didn't want to do too much (although I did want to do a lot). We can fix the archive box later, if we need to. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 21:12, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Question about an edit
Panic asked me about this edit, mind leaving him a note? -- SB_Johnny | talk 16:12, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

Blocks
Thanks for the heads up. I won't be needing any further information on the topic I believe. I like that he created the user "WithoutFocus" which is very funny to me even though it doesn't make much sense since my username isn't "WithFocus". -<font color="#000000">within <font color="#7A7A7A">focus 16:49, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

 * Blocks wont work, Sock Puppets should be ignored until they do harm (no one can catch them all), Herby did check it for an Open Proxy but that will also not work, there are many ways it can be done and is indeed being done. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.165.117.2 (talk • contribs) 18:59, 22 Feb 2007  (UTC)

 * I have little idea who you are but I consider your post threatening - if you are a Wikibookian it is extremely uncivil and I do assure you it would be unwise to take that approach with me -- Herby talk thyme 19:09, 22 February 2007 (UTC)

 * You have the right idea, but threatening (come on...), it is also not uncivil, I'm not behaving in any improper way (well I'm actively contesting SB Jhonny a bit at most, passive objections are taking to long), the rest is just a statement of facts. Sock Puppets can't be avoided, but I'll continue the discussion on the Block policy, feel free to join. --Cinap(se) 19:21, 22 February 2007 (UTC) —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Cinap(se) (talk • contribs) 19:21, 22 Feb 2007 (UTC)

 * Using sockpuppets to taunt other users is most certainly uncivil. -- xixtas talk 01:22, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Re: Your block
This guy has been vandalising Polish Wikimedia projects as well as English & German Wikipedia for a long time. All his contributions in more than half a year were vandalisms (see block log on Polish Wikipedia). You can also take a look at results of my CheckUser request on Meta. This is Polish IP so I doubt its owner would make legitimate edits to English Wikibooks and there is a threat that he would vandalise here as well. --Derbeth talk 22:31, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

 * 1) Yes, please.
 * 2) I blocked it for 2 years, Wikipedia says it's an open proxy.
 * 3) Wikipedia has no mention of this IP being an open proxy, so IMO 2 years is just enough. Owner of this IP may change in this time. I don't like infinite blocks due to this reason, additionally WikiProject on open proxies on Meta also suggests a limited block for open proxies.
 * 4) In case of long-term vandalism, without normal edits, but also without evidence of the IP being open proxy, I suggest 3- or 6-month blocks. It's enough in most cases, but here I see a long history of blocks, so I suggest 1 year. --Derbeth talk 12:09, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Noahw
Yes. I will try. -- xixtas talk 13:41, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

Our friends...
Are commons people... I've been on IRC with them all morning. -- SB_Johnny | talk 17:04, 24 February 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Herbythyme/Compost4


text:
Template:Miskito/Comment

Commentary template for Miskito language course

Parameter 1: text of commentary (sentence or paragraph)

title: Template:Miskito/Comment


text:
User talk:MadeofPlants

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 19:58, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:MadeofPlants


text:
User talk:Sfliehma

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 19:58, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Sfliehma


text:
User talk:Piyoosh

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 20:00, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Piyoosh


text:
User talk:Dementted

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 20:00, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Dementted


text:
User talk:Voxhumana

Hello and welcome to Wikibooks!

Here are some tips to help you get started:
 * You should sign your name on Talk and vote pages using four tildes, like this: ~~~~.
 * Remember to conduct any editing experiments in the sandbox.
 * If you're a Wikipedian, see Wikibooks for Wikipedians for a primer on how things work here (it's a little different).
 * If you want to base your work here on materials from Wikipedia, please use WB:RFI to bring the material over in compliance with the GFDL.
 * If you're an instructor and plan on using wikibooks for a class project, see Guidelines for class projects
 * Please say hello at the Staff Lounge with any questions or ideas.
 * Eventually, you might want to read the Manual of Style and Policies and Guidelines.
 * Please take a look at Naming policy before starting a new book.
 * Remember to maintain a Neutral point of view.
 * Explore, be bold in editing pages, and have fun!

You will find more resources in Community Portal. If you want to ask a question, visit the Study help desk, the Staff lounge, IRC channel or ask me personally on my talk page. For site news, see the Bulletin board. It might be an idea if you add this page to your "watchlist" so that you can see when any new information is posted there.

Good luck! -- Herby talk thyme 20:01, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

title: User talk:Voxhumana