User talk:Karl Wick

Test

I haven't seen any special formatting features

I'm using windows 2000 here at work and I've not seen what you are talking about. Theresa knott 14:23, 5 Feb 2004 (UTC)

It is apparently for the Wikipedia site but not on Wikibooks yet ... when will we get the updates huhmm. --~~

I just found it - in Preferences - "Show edit toolbar". I think. r3m0t (cont) (talk) 11:34, 29 Mar 2004 (UTC)

---

Redirects

If you want to get rid of a redirect. Click on the link that says "redirected from mainpage" you will find that you can see the page you were redirected from. Edit the page and wipe the redirect. Theresa knott 17:43, 11 Feb 2004 (UTC)

Oh, yeah .. I guess I shoulda figured that one out .. --Karl Wick

Thanks for the tip and sorry bout fiddling with main page --Flonejek 05:35, 22 Feb 2004 (UTC)

I guess you could help by extending the notes I've taken past highschool level. I'm trying to do this myself but the only areas where I have extensive knowledge are Physics,Chem,Calculus, and Applic.(I've yet too start working on Calculus and Applic). In other words if you know anyone good with humanities they could extend my economics and (soon to be) lit notes. As for others in my class helping out, well, I'm like one of 3 kids in the final year who knows the basics of html. By the way, I created the Manual of Style based on your physics textbook and the Humanities bookshelf, and these themselves have shown me many shortcuts that wikicode has over html, so thanks a heap. I could probably get Patrick to help, but he's pretty involved in his anonymising software atm.

Automatied TOC?

I noticed on your page that you've stated that the Chemistry textbook has it's own automated Table of Contents, yet I can't seem to find such a TOC in the page's code. I'd be very interested is such an automation, and would appriciate any help you can give me. Thanks, Gentgeen 01:05, 2 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. --103.249.233.83 (discuss) 05:16, 8 February 2018 (UTC)Live Forex and stock Market, as we tend to put a hierarchy header rather than a TOC header for each page, but I'll keep it in mind for when I go work on something else.

Hi

• Thanks for the welcome! TUF-KAT 07:43, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

• I want to say "thanks" for your work on General Biology.

I wonder if there is something that could be done to recruit mare people to help with Wikibooks. I doubt if anyone gets down to the last line of the Wikipedia main page. Maybe the best thing to to is spend some time making more links from Wikipedia biology pages to Wikibooks. JWSurf 17:02, 31 Mar 2004 (UTC)

EvoWiki material

You're welcome to use evowiki as a source, and you're welcome to copy any article which is written entirely by me. If the page is written by a number of different authors you'd have to get permission from each one of them, because the evowiki license states that material should be for non-commercial use, and the GFDL doesn't! --EvoWiki:User:Steinsky/en:User:Steinsky 13:46, 3 Mar 2004 (GMT)

Deleting an old version

I'm looking at the database schema and I think this is what you need:

DELETE FROM `old` WHERE `old_id` = 13692;

To check, do first:

SELECT `old_user`, `old_text` FROM `old` WHERE `old_id` = 13692;

This should return a single row with the full article text in old_text. This should return no rows once the DELETE command has been executed. If it shows more than one row, ask me, I'll find out what's going on.

You can run these at Special:asksql. r3m0t (cont) (talk) 21:44, 3 Mar 2004 (UTC)

...yes? r3m0t (cont) (talk) 14:44, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

I go to Special:asksql and paste

SELECT `old_user`, `old_text` FROM `old` WHERE `old_id` = 13692

into the box. When I press the "submit query" button another page comes up that says "Query successful" and has the code I just typed in still in a box, then below a big box that says old_user and old_text at the top and then has several thousands of words of text there (I believe the text that is to be eliminated. So my best guess is to paste

DELETE FROM `old` WHERE `old_id` = 13692

either with or without the previous code still in the box, and press the submit query button. But then it gives me an error message:

<< A database query syntax error has occurred. This could be because of an illegal search query (see Searching Wikibooks), or it may indicate a bug in the software. The last attempted database query was:

DELETE FROM `old` WHERE `old_id` = 13692 from within function "SpecialAsksql::doSubmit". MySQL returned error "1142: delete command denied to user: 'wikisql@isidore' for table 'old'". >>

So what am I doing wrong ?

--Karl

You will need to ask a wikipedia developer who has the root password for MySQL to run this for you, because Wikimedia security is set too tight ;) . r3m0t (cont) (talk) 20:37, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Oh OK ... they are pretty busy folk tho, and may not find this to be a top priority. Thanks for your help and concern tho. And sorry it took me a while to get my part sorted out. --Karl Wick

---

Thanks for your feedback on the squares! --Boit 20:20, 4 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Biology Photograph

If you are looking for a cover photo for the book I put together this montage: image:Biology.jpg. I'll go see if it fits onto your cover - Marsh 01:52, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Looks real nice to me Marshman. Thank you! Of course you realize now I am going to want you to contribute more photos for the rest of the book ... --Karl Wick

No problem, really. When I see that I have a photo that fits a topic at Wikipedia or here, I usually contribute it. - Marsh 02:47, 5 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Dichotomous Key

No problem, I made Dichotomous Key from a redirect to a list (at least for now, eventually I suppose it will be a title page and introduction), as I think the list at General Biology will quickly be too long. Perhaps just a link to some of the major groups that people are likely to look up (not many people try to identify annelids using a dichotomous key, for example, but they do for snakes and birds and trees and such). TUF-KAT 09:05, 6 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Thanks man! Pleasure workin with ya. --Karl Wick

LD stuff

Synopsis and Disclaimer moved to LD Introduction - I'm not so sure about this. The synopsis is sort of meant to give overall aims about the book, letting you decide if you want to start reading the main content. The disclaimer applies to the whole book (and may soon get unwieldy and long). r3m0t (cont) (talk) 21:38, 7 Mar 2004 (UTC)

d'you think having that nice image I just hacked together on Wikibooks is ok? (Actually, it's only 56 kb...) r3m0t (cont) (talk) 22:23, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC) PS I checked it out on Vischeck, it won't look very nice to you :(

The one on the Recent Changes page of course ;) r3m0t (cont) (talk) 22:45, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC) PS Um, I meant (image removed for copyright status)

Looks cool to me (I am not totally colorblind, just a bit red-green). -Karl Wick

Please ban 129.93.121.163 - they have made two edits in total, both vandalism to the Lucid dreaming main page. r3m0t (cont) (talk) 07:19, 11 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Wikipedia Meetup

I invite anybody who likes to come to Shag's Tavern (937) 258-8353 1926 S Smithville Rd Dayton, OH at midnight on Sunday the 21st/Monday the 22nd of March. Meet in the rear, near to the jukebox. Feel free to contact me in regards to specifics. Cheers, User:Sam Spade / Jack

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Meetup#USA_meet_up

Sam Spade 08:57, 8 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Organic Chemistry

I've made a minor addition to the alkenes section of the organic chemistry book. I thought I'd let you know that I plan on adding more on the reactions of alkenes and I also hope to contribute to other parts of the organic chemistry book. I'm currently studying for my A-level Chemistry and so I'll make contribuions when I can.

I'm also working on a section about Transition metals for the Inorganic Chemistry book.

Sweet, sounds great man! I started the book while in class and it was a help to me. Anything that you add will be a legacy to those who follow .. --Karl Wick

Thanks for sorting me out with a TOC I was going to ask you about that but you were one step ahead - cheers mate! JaF893

So did you realise when the link to the TOC was red? ;-) I'm honoured you asked me, anyway. r3m0t (cont) (talk) 07:21, 19 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Bureaucrat ?

Are you a bureaucrat in addition to being an admin? Perl 02:14, 21 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Ummm ... bureaucrat? Not a word I'd like to use for myself in most contexts, as it conjures arbitrary rules and regulations, which is contrary to my freewheeling nature. I am the guy who started this site tho, and ready to assist if there is any organizational task that I can serve in. Except I am not a developer so do not have knowlege / ablility for certain tasks, such as making new admins. --Karl Wick

Well, Karl, get ready, cause I just nominated you for honorary developer status over at meta (m:Developer access). This would give you bureaucrat level abilities at all wikimedia projects. Gentgeen 07:44, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Wow, cool ... there is something that is actually titled, "bureaucrat"? If it means a greater role in planning and implementing WikiMedia projects, thank you Genteen! --Karl Wick

As I understand it, a "bureaucrat" is an admin who can create, and remove, other admins. The "Honorary developer", mostly being called "stewards" right now, would have this ability over all wikimedia projects. The main use, I take it, would be to help set up new projects or languages until a local community was able to function properly. I think you'd be very good with such a responsibility, and so far, no one disagrees. Gentgeen 21:08, 25 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Editing pages

Is there any other document which describes how to use the Wiki apart from the standard how to edit a document page? I would like to do some stuff like equation numbering etc. Thanks for the welcome BTW. --- Norman Weiner

I found this page: en:Wikipedia:TeX_markup that details how to write up the code for equations if that helps ... To number a series of lines of text is one thing but if you are asking how to number formatted TeX'ed equations I don't know of a way .. Hope that helps sir --Karl Wick

Have fun

Have fun on your trip, boss. Gentgeen 16:01, 26 Mar 2004 (UTC)

Account

Please create an account on http://test.wikipedia.org -- Tim Starling 02:51, 5 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Spanish

I was thinking about the differences between the main varieties of Spanish. In Argentina tú is replaced by vos, and in Spain there is a special plural tú, which is vosotros, and both persons have different verb endings.

OTOH, there are other differences in the language. One of them (probably the best known) is coger ("to take" in Spain, "to f***" in Mexico). As it's used all the time in Spain it may be useful to add it to the list of verbs, but of course a warning is necessary.

What do you think about this? Sabbut 21:02, 14 Apr 2004 (UTC)

The differences between Spanish in one place from another could be the subject of a chapter or appendix, such as Spanish/Slang (slang). As for the word you mention, I think that it can be used in an unoffensive context in Mexico although also as an offensive word.

The man you posted the comment to was the same Daniel Canaris you emailed. You needn't of called me 'sir'. Since you seem to be well versed in grammatical concepts (you contribute to the Spanish and English page) it will be greatly appreciated if you can offer me any tips on explaining grammatical concepts and editing my pages, even if you do not know Latin. Thanks :)

Yeah, I kind of guessed that you were one in the same. I'll look over the pages to see what I can do. Thanks again for your excellent work. --Karl Wick

Merit badges

No, I'm not trying to earn any merit badges. I'm an adult leader these days, and can't earn any anymore. I'm hoping to develop a resource for scouts or merit badge counselors to use. Nobody can actually earn a merit badge with Wikibooks, but we can provide useful information to help. TUF-KAT 16:42, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC)

It could make sense for a scout to write a book about something for his Eagle Scout project, couldn't it? That would be as helpful as many current projects, and fit a lower budget. Who will be the first? Who? - Karl Wick

As I read the requirements, I don't think that would be accecptable. An Eagle project is designed to benefit the whole community, not just the scouting community. While I agree it would be a good project for scouts to undertake, I can't see my council's advancement chair approving such an eagle project. Gentgeen 00:31, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

A wikibook about Merit Badges would benefit only scouts, but a wikibook about First Aid or Underwater Basket Weaving could potentially benefit the whole community, so could be the subject of an Eagle project, no? BTW this is true that I am a steward now? Where was it announced? What does that mean for me? Thanks - Karl Wick

I didn't think about it that way. hrmm, yes, that might work. Especially if he can demonstrate leadership by recruiting and organizing other editors, say from his troop and district, and then developed some type of publicity plan to let people know about the book.

About the steward election, I nominated you for that before you went to Mexico, but it was called "developer access" back then. Basically, you now have the ability to make and remove sysops on all wikimedia projects. The basic idea is that the stewards will help guide and patrol the new, smaller projects until they are large enough and established enough to govern themselves. I don't know where the announcement was made, but the vote was at meta:Developer access. Gentgeen 05:57, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

<butting in after the fact>The barrier to writing a module on earning a merit badge or three is that only one writer, the eagle candidate, writes. An eagle project has to involve the candidate leading a group of people to complete a project of service to the community. That it only helps the Boy Scout community is of no relevance -- people do eagle projects at Boy Scout camps and other Scouting-specific locations frequently. TUF-KAT 07:52, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

---

Headline text

I live in Spain. I found this website and try to collaborate, but I do not understand how can I do it. It is very strange for me. If you need a grammar... you buy it... If you need a word... you buy a dictionary...

How can I help you. I would like to write in Spanish. News. Articles.

Best Regards,

[email protected]

Hola Juani, gracis por tu interés en el sitio. Es fácil aprender a usar el sitio, es como Wikipedia pero Wikibooks tiene la meta de crear libros de texto en lugar de un diccionario o enciclopedia. Hablas bien el inglés, si quieres me puedes ayudar a escribir un libro de inglés para los que hablan español .. aquí es una liga que te va a aydar a ubicarte un poco más: Wikibooks:Welcome, newcomers

Díme si te puedo ayudar en cualquier cosa, --Karl Wick 16:17, 16 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Steward Election : Congratulations!

Congratulations to you, Karl, on your election to the position of Steward. You've done a fantastic job on Wikibooks (where I'm just a lurker at present, but where I hope to make a contribution later), and I'm glad to see that your valuable skills are now of benefit to the Wikimedia project as a whole. Davidcannon 23:51, 20 Apr 2004 (UTC) (also a Christian, by the way).\

Thanks Davidcannon, I did not know that I was elected but you are the bringer of good news today! - Karl Wick

Congratulations! Perl 01:32, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

MediaWiki:PSG

No problem. I actually got the table layout from the wikipedia programming languages msg. I am taking physics and doing these study guides is helping me to better understand the info. Perl 00:02, 21 Apr 2004 (UTC)

See above

Because I hate getting a "You have new messages" tag and having to go into the page history to find what was edited on your talk page, I am leaving a note at the first place you check that I butted back into the conversation at User talk:Karl Wick#Merit badges. TUF-KAT 07:52, 22 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Vocabulary Project

Hi there, I saw you contributed to the Spanish wikibook, so I thought it might be of interest to you that I have written a program for learning vocabulary. I think for this purpose a program is more useful than a website, although maybe one day we can make this a java project. It is based on the belief that it is best to learn foreign words by learning typical sentences. The program can also be used for learning other stuff that works with the question/answer scheme, e.g. the theory for the driving licence or anatomy. Unfortunately I wrote it in qbasic, which can be downloaded here. It also uses images and sound files for alternation and in order to work on the pronunciation. Let me know what you think about it. I currently have files in English, French (with sound), Spanish, and Portuguese. Catalan is in the planning. Corrections or additions are very welcome. The easiest thing to start with for improvements would be adding new vocabulary, sound files or images. A guide to the program will follow soon, although I think it is rather self-explanatory. In the long run the program should be rewritten in a better language. Afterwards it should be possible to switch languages within the program. Up to now there is a different version of the program for each language. Get-back-world-respect 23:21, 23 Apr 2004 (UTC)

That sounds like a great idea .. I have not been able to check it out yet b/c I use only my Mac at home and administrator-locked-down computers at the library etc. As far as I know at the moment the Wiki software is limited in its capability to do some things but with time more things should be possible. I'd work on an open source project apart from Wikibooks if it would contribute to the advancement of free language learning .. --Karl Wick 21:43, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Great, thank you very much for your interest. As I have already done some work on catalan here it will be easy to add to the program as well. Maybe the project could once be rewritten in Java and connected to something like wiki. I hope you will be able to try the program soon. Get-back-world-respect 23:05, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

In the meantime, winamp and Stefan Peichl (LxPic) allowed me to include their programs in the package. Some guys from here suggested to rewrite the program in python. I do not know that language but I think this should become independent of Microsoft. Get-back-world-respect 21:28, 16 May 2004 (UTC)

Interlanguage links

Karl, I saw your edit summary at the cookbook. I'm not sure, but I think the automatic interlanguage links seen at the top of wikipedia pages are a feature that have been turned off here. I think the system needs every language to have its own domain name, like en.wikipedia.org, fr.wikipedia.org, ect. Here, all languages are lumped together in one domain name, so it doesn't work. More reason to push each language having its own domain, right? :) Gentgeen 20:48, 27 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hola Karl

Gracias por la bienvenida, me alegro de tener un compañero que habla español porque lo cierto es que no sé por donde empezar. Son tantas cosas sin hacer,... :) Quizá me puedes dar alguna idea. Vengo de la wikipedia en español. Es el funcionamiento interno similar? por lo que he visto en "lo que wikipedia no es", más o menos lo tengo claro, pero si hay alguna otra cosa que crees que debería saber sobre la wikibook, te agradezcería me informases :)Javier Carro 21:02, 29 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Wikibooks funciona basicamente igual que Wikipedia, solamente que la idea es escribir libros entonces es una forma mas organizada. Tambien el projecto esta en su infancia todavia entonces puedes exprimentar mas facilmente sin que nadie te haga problemas. Pero en terminos del funcionamento tecnico del sitio creo que es igual. --Karl Wick

Hola Karl. Propongo cambiar el nombre "Wikibooks" por "Wikilibros" en la versión española para irla hispanizando en todo lo que podamos, aunque todavía es muy dependiente de la versión inglesa. He abierto una discusión en Talk:Portada:EspañolJavier Carro 07:28, 30 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Hi Karl

Sorry I did not get back to you right away. I was on the mainland (using the camera!) and then did not respond to your question about selling the camera when I first got back. Camera still works. I need to check out a couple of things before I would part with it. Any idea what yoiur would want to pay? When do you "leave the country"? - Marsh 02:40, 24 May 2004 (UTC)

Marshman, I'd pay a fair market price for it, or less if you want! I'll be leaving the country soon tho, this weekend. - Karl

Re: Dustin

Thanks for the message :). Congratulations yourself for your worthy contributions. --Dustin 09:14, 29 May 2004 (UTC)

Steward interface has moved

Hi, following there being no objections at m:talk:steward, the steward interface has been moved from Test to Meta. I have transferred all the permissions across so you can now use m:special:makesysop for making sysops on any wiki. This will be logged at m:Meta:Bureaucrat log. The old log from Test is now at m:Meta:Bureaucrat log/Archive1. Angela 12:50, 17 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Thanks Angela! I wondered whatever came of that. - Karl

Clearing Wikibooks growth impediments

Karl, Wikibooks is a marvelous undertaking. But I am having a hard time buying into it because of the enormous disincentive to contributing I see as compared to Wikipedia. Is there a page or forum where aims and methods of Wikibooks are discussed? Kupord Maizzed 19:43, 10 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I am a little bit out of the loop at the moment, but perhaps on the Talk page for the Main page .. I am trying to remember ... Whatever impediments there are hopefully we can get them cleaned up or work past them. --Karl Wick 21:59, 13 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Photoschule again

Hi, Karl, Hope you are fine. You helped me to start the german Photoschule which is copied now to the german wikibook and I will translate it at the old place. Can you help me again, for I forgot the way to edit the {Photoschule} where are the chapters listed. Where is it? Thanks lars 08:29, 4 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Migración de dominio

Hola Karl. Por lo que sé no es posible migrar texto de un dominio a otro. Existe la posibilidad de exportar artículos, pero la importación no está implementada. Por lo tanto, yo y otros hemos migrado los artículos "a mano".

Saludos

--Pablo.cl 03:51, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 

PD: Estuve viendo tus colaboraciones, y me pareció que no hay nada que deba ir a es.wikibooks.org. ¿Estabas pensando en el libro Spanish? En ese caso, lo que hay es una versión en castellano, llamada es:El español como idioma extranjero. Por lo tanto, al menos en ese caso no hay nada que migrar.

Saludos
--Pablo.cl 04:05, 8 Sep 2004 (UTC)

Gospel of John

Karl, I was wondering if you had any specific scope for the Gospel of John study guide? Or were you just going to wait and see what happened when people of varying beliefs start posting? It could be quite interesting, probably frustrating, but hopefully something edifying will come out it. Thanks for the work, and you'll probably see me rooting around in this book. :-) liblamb 15:51, 28 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hey Liblamb, my goal for the book is to start a free collaborative commentary of the whole Bible, mainly for the edification of believers but also for the evangelization of those who do not have faith in Christ. This maay be in conflict with the NPOV policy that is currently in use. Over time we will see how things work out and how to make exceptions or modifications for optimum use. Please feel free to contribute or modify anything there, I don't have any kind of advanced studies and am no expert. --Karl Wick 18:22, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hope you get this. Planting mustard seeds. Take a look at Christianity. This was an abandoned book when I found it. Maybe my organization of the page defies category, but John 2 is up for deletion and could be deleted due to apathy. My three (4 if you count Uncle G, I took that as don't change Chapter 2, good enough) contributors haven't signed their names, but all made a difference. The other roving ambassadors could not delete Christianity evidently, just the unique Testament component. I think it would set a bad precedent to delete one chapter of a book, any book and especially the Bible, when the numbering or name system involved would be crippled when more contributors come on board. If a decent translation does not qualify as a book, I would respect your decision. I started the same book under annotated The New Testament while awaiting the decision. I can leave Christianity the way I found it. An Anglican priest is helping me with the project at Wikicities, maybe the whole thing belongs there. BTW Your home church has an outstanding website, I could only describe as MASTERful, as it should be. - Athrash | {Talk) 04:48, 29 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you. The work there on Christianity looks great and I will put in my word of defense for you and it. I am not sure why so many people want to delete things ... Keep up the good work Athrash. --Karl Wick 9 July 2005 16:29 (UTC)

Promoting free textbooks, how to change the world

Dear Karl (and anyone else),

This is great! I am so happy to find Wikibooks, and to see it growing! The down side is the way I found it: After having a attending the "home and school club" (modern PTA) meeting for my son's elementary school and seeing the uphill battle of their fund-raising, I started thinking hard about how to cut costs in schools. Something that floated to the surface rather quickly was the textbooks - textbooks are not cheap. I very quickly thought, Open Source! Open source textbooks, compiled online by teachers, students, whoever, is the answer. Of course, getting these into elementary schools would be difficult (politics), but one might be able to break into community colleges and private schools...

So, as with any idea, I started searching the web to see if someone was already doing it. There's the down side of Wikibooks - it took me a little while to find on Google (searching on "free textbook" and "free college textbooks" - I ended up here following a blog link).

So, here's the point of my writing: This is a great project! We can change the world! Make education more affordable for everyone! We need to promote the heck out of this!!! But is what I'm describing part of Wikibooks' current vision? If so, what promotion activities are underway already? Who is the top Wikibooks Evangelist? I want to help! And if not, who do I have to convince? Since printed books will be a staple of educational institutions for a long time to come (until every student has a laptop), a long term goal would be to either publish printed docs through a nonprofit, or minimally make Wikibooks available (which they sort of are already, through the copyleft license) for printing - but I think there will need to be a way to readily download whole books (as PDFs perhaps).

Aerik Sylvan http://aerik.thesylvans.com/blog

P.S. I have just found the discussion on the main page, and believe that to also be an appropriate place for this discusion, so I am cross-posting.

Hi Aerik and Hi Karl. Ijust wanted to let you know that the wikimedia foundation has just received a grant from the Beck Foundation to produce 48 page booklets for children aged 7 to 12. These booklets would be very inexpensive, as wikmedia is not interested in making a profit, so the cost is to cover the cost of printing only. Developement of these books will naturally occur at wikibooks. Anyonw who is interested in this project should come to [wikijunior] where we are discussing a number things before to cracking on with the first topic. Theresa knott 12:53, 29 Oct 2004 (UTC)

Hi Aerik, I appreciate your comments and enthusiasm. I am the most likely Wikibooks evangelist although I am living in Mexico right now and don't have constant access to the Internet (sorry for taking a bit to respond). Any ideas you have on how to promote the site are very welcome. I would love for the materials we develop here to be used at all levels of education, and motivate educators to dontate their materials and efforts here as well. Let me know along the way if there is anything else I can do to help you. --Karl Wick 18:18, 10 Nov 2004 (UTC)

vandalism by 221.219.60.170

please ban User:221.219.60.170. a page with a listing of admins would be useful when one is on the trail of a vandal. then again being an admin would mean i could revert and make it even easier. The bellman 12:05, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

oh it looks like he has stopped now, so i guess no ban is needed. The bellman 12:06, 12 Nov 2004 (UTC)

California Standards

Okay, here I go:

1. I really have to say I'm not a fan of changing back the standards. The California standard isn't very good. The AP standard is approved by a much broader range of people. The use of the California standard is a problem regionally also because newbies will think it's a regional project. I don't mean to discourage contribution, but the AP standard is used elsewhere, such as in the European and U.S. history projects with success (also I changed the project out of the title for simplicity and I kind of kept the other ones as a kind of guiding hand -- see World History, but honestly, I don't care if the project part is eliminated altogether). And furthermore, if there are so many willing contributors, where are they? You are wasting my time by saying that these experts won't contribute under the AP World History standard (which I made the title up but it is the standard for AP World History) and anyway, what kind of "experts" don't know what AP is?

2. There have been no edits for almost 4 months by anyone but me. It is ridiculous to demand that I bow to the demands of people who do not put forth any contribution for so long. I will not simply start again from scratch. I kept most the original articles and structure anyway, just changed the standard, and the California one isn't very good. It's an overly simplistic and western-centered one.

3. I will be very surprised if we go with the California standard and we see these "expert's" contributions pan out-you of all people must see that people lose focus after a while and abandon projects, like this one's former contributors. I doubt very highly that you will see anyone doing anything substantial for free after such a reversion. (And also, anyone can just copy and paste their research paper into the project anyway). I am avidly adding free material, and I welcome help, but what on earth is wrong with the AP standard anyway? I don't know a soul who after even a casual glance at both would support the California (standard). Also, since Wikibooks is so limited in its contributors anyway, we need to be accepting of other peoples ideas, and honestly the standards thing amounts to a bunch of bull anyway. People are going to add what they want and ignore such things in the first place. Very few of our projects have standards anyway.

4. As for the parallel namespaces idea, there seems to be little point in such a duplication of effort and I oppose it even if I have to bow to these peoples' (whoever they are, it is not clear to me) wishes. Also, I did come back and add to this comment, so I hope we don't cause misunderstandings with each other, and I apologize for the sloppy structure. Yours, kindly--Naryathegreat 03:10, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Also, you'll note that I changed the standards on November 14, and actually it was a week before that, so you'll see that it took over a month for any of these "contributors" to notice the change anyway :(. I hope you weigh this fact in your opinion of the merit of the statement that these people are just enthusiastically waiting to contribute. My personal opinion is that it is a lie designed to get you on the side of reverting the standards, but I may be making a big error in judgement.--Naryathegreat 03:29, 14 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Naryathegreat, of course I understand that you are upset. Please try to overcome your emotion and remain polite, as I am sure that we can come to a conclusion that is convenient to everyone involved. Thankfully the wiki system makes reverts and changes relatively painless ... One of the first people to offer his help to the Wikibooks project is someone who has worked in the textbook industry for almost twenty years and has started his own not-for-profit with the goal of bringing open-content textbooks to the community, beginning in his native California. He in fact aggrees with you that the AP standards are superior, but as the person who originally started the World History Project as a trial is understandably upset to feel that other people have come in and taken over the project and changed the rules that were governing it.

I don't accuse you of breaking any rule, of course you put up notice of the proposed change of standards and gave time for any objectives to be brought forward, and neither he nor I objected at the time. I didn't know what he had in mind and I am living in Mexico right now with limited Internet access and am less active on the site for the moment.

What I am asking is for your understanding and help to divide the project into two distinct books, one that follows the line that this individual started, and another that follows the direction and the edits that you have contributed.

For the moment I have to act as the representative for this person, who is on the verge of leaving Wikibooks/Wikipedia permanently and advising all of his many high-level contacts of the very negative experience he has had trying to get a textbook together on Wikibooks. This would be a big blow to Wikibooks and I believe to open source textbooks in general.

All he wants is a place for his team of paid, professional textbook-writing history experts to continue the stub of a book that was begun on the World History Project page time back. At the moment these people were so enraged at the abandonment of the original standard that they refuse to continue with the project. I hope to negotiate with them to convince them to continue.

Narythegreat, I need your help. You have the power in your hands to help make this project and the whole site a greater success that will be used in actual classrooms, or to make things more difficult and set the whole site back. You of course are free to choose your course of action. And helping me does not mean that any of your changes have to be lost, because my plan is to make two books, one for each standard.

Please let me know what you think. Karl

Karl, I understand your position and his. I tend to agree that it is good to have the contributions of these colleagues of his, but I also think that two seperate World History books is a wasted effort. It is hard for me to say that we should duplicate the project and continue to work on one while another receives contributions. I would also like to know why these colleagues of his only like the California standard, which I understand from his point of view is necessary, and it's not a complaint, but I don't understand their concerns. Also, I don't think being the only person to work on a project for four months qualifies as "taking it over".

Also, is it possible for him to contact me directly? I don't understand why he went to you first. The only clue I had was an anonymous edit that deleted everything I had put into the project--which I propmptly reverted. Yours, Naryathegreat 04:14, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Naryathegreat, they are all Californians and working to introduce open source textbooks in California. Thats why they want to use the Cali standards. When the book is mature we could make a derivative using other standards, but the folks who would work on it are only interested locally for the moment.

Email me your email through the site and I will forward it to him and maybe he could write you.

Thanks for your message! Talk to you later man, --Karl Wick 22:46, 17 Dec 2004 (UTC)

Wikibooks logo

Hi Karl,

mav told me that you designed the Wikibooks logo. I really like it a lot. Would you be interested in participating in the Wikinews logo contest? Also, could you add copyright information to m:Logos? As I understand it, the copyright for Wikimedia project logos should be transferred to the Foundation.--Eloquence

Emergency Medicine

Hi,

Thanks kindly for your interest in the new EM Wikibook. I'd really appreciate your involvement and help in the early phase. Particularly:

1. Making the *template* as attractive and functional as possible

2. Improving the way I've formatted the chapters (the chapters have to remain the same, but maybe the pages need to be moved or just the layout improved somewhat by someone who's done this before). I took all the empty chapters away and just left the section headings. Then I created a new page listing where chapters *can* go once someone has begun them.

3. I need a little tutoring about how to create tables, how to create dynamic footnotes/endnotes, how to include boilerplate/template text (text which appears on the bottom of every page in the textbook) without re-pasting it in every time.

You can create links to boilerplate texts using the Template feature that is also used to create Tables of Contents. Create the page, Template:Boilerplate12, put your text there, and link to it by putting this code in your page: {{msg:Boilerplate12}} . Wherever you put that code, the text will come up in the page. Also, every time you modify that boilerplate text, the changes will come through to all of the pages containing the link.

Dr. Lovett, I made a Emergency Medicine table of contents and first Emergency Med warnings and disclaimers boilerplate text page for you.

4. Medical articles with an EM perspective are very needed!

Thanks,

Paris.

I think it makes more sense to leave in the links to empty chapters, as this gives a clear direction to the next steps to take on the book, for other contributers.

Books all jumbled together and not distinct

Can you fix this? Please do so, or find someone who can.

I've been working on the cookbook. Every recipie has a link to "Catagories". Oh my. I click on that, and I see...

• Abugida writing systems
• Ada 2005 feature
• Ada programming language
• Algebra
• Anthropology
• Arts

That's just the letter A. While algebra may be useful for modifying a recipie, it really does not belong in a cookbook. Catagories from unrelated wiki books should not be leaking into the cookbook. I suspect that the Ada programmers have no use for Albanian recipies, but they can always just go to the cookbook if they get hungry. They don't need to be tempted by delicious Argentine recipies while trying to learn about Ada 2005.

Catagories should work within the cookbook and only within the cookbook.

Strange non-cookbook stuff also leaks into the "recent changes" page. I also get it if I use the "random module" link, which really should be "random recipie" and "random ingredient".

The only thing these wikis might reasonably share would be user accounts, and THAT is not working, at least between Wikipedia and the cookbook. Oh, the suffering. :-(

BTW, adding "Cookbook:" to all the links gets old fast. Because of this, and case-sensitivity being enabled, one is required to use the "|" to rename all links. This greatly detracts from the ease-of-use that wikis are known for. If the cookbook were more distinct, this prefix would not be needed.

I certainly do understand why things are the way they are. This does not change the simple fact that things are a great big mess.

The cookbook seriously does need a domain name for itself. Then some server-side bot can go through and rip out all the "Cookbook:" prefixes that are hurting usability.

The Special:Specialpages stuff is unusable too. For example, I look in the New Images gallery and see nothing about the cookbook. The cookbook gets drowned out by physics and biology. Everywhere I look, wiki features are unusable, with cookbook data being crowded out by unrelated stuff. Everywhere I look, there are links that take me to some generic place outside the cookbook. Even Main Page is misleading and wrong, and the reason why every cookbook recipe has to include an explicit link back to the main page of the cookbook.

AlbertCahalan 04:15, 1 Feb 2005 (UTC)

AlbertCalahan, I looked through the cookbook after reading your post and it looks like some great stuff going on there. I am not sure about making the Cookbook into its own domain, which would make things simpler for development. I think that if we can get enough people asking to have the subdomain feature enabled in the main Wikibooks wiki, maybe that would help the situation. Then, any pages in the cookbook linked from the main Cookbook page would just have to be /Brussels sprouts instead of Cookbook: Brussels sprouts, for example. Send an email to the textbook mailing list requesting the subdomain feature to be enabled, which I also did a couple of weeks ago. Not sure what else I can do beyond sympathize .... --Karl Wick 15:57, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

That is not a subdomain. A subdomain would be cookbook.wikibooks.org or similar. It's free, and can easily be switched over to a normal domain when someone sends in the $10 or so. The problem with /Fish is that the notation is backwards. Imagine an almost-UNIX system where usr/local/bin (no leading slash) and ./my-local-stuff (explicit "./") are used. Imagine an almost-C++ language where Foo refers to the outside scope and ClassName::Foo must be used for the local scope. Wiki links ought to be just the text in most cases, so that when I write fish, I merely need to put it in double square brackets. (being case-insensitive is required for this, and also to help prevent duplicate work) The problem goes beyond naming too; remember that the special pages are not filtering out all the non-cookbook stuff. AlbertCahalan 16:33, 3 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Developers

Hi Karl, I have some specific concerns to share with someone with access to the actual coding behind Wikibooks- could you put me in contact with one?--Naryathegreat 01:46, 18 Feb 2005 (UTC)

vandal on front page

Please do something about User:Gumba gumba quickly.

He hit the main page, including templates and/or subtle changes to historical versions. He's fast.

He also hit my user page and talk page. By the time you read this, probably your's too.

BTW, consider making me an admin so I could at least do a bit more. Probably a developer will need to look up the IP blocks though. What a sociopath...

AlbertCahalan 19:35, 8 Apr 2005 (UTC)

FHSST

Hi Karl, I have responded to your comment (at last) - see: Riaan Thanks. --Riaan 09:04, 28 Apr 2005 (UTC)

Organic Chemistry: Drawings

Karl,

You've done amazing work laying the foundations of the Organic Chemistry Wikibook. I am eager to contribute, but I have a few questions:

1. What program were you using to create the clean, crisp molecule drawings as seen in the Haloalkanes / Alkyl Halides and Cycloalkanes chapters? (some kind of chem-specific software, or just a drawing program?)

I'm a huge believer in visual consistency, so I ask because I would like to use the same style in drawings I plan to add to the book. Could you send me the templates you are using (or really anything to start with would out help a lot.)

Cheers, Buxtor 18:05, 16 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thanks for the big compliments Buxor! I used Adobe Illustrator to create the initial images. I think what I did next was to take a screen cap or export or something, where I clipped the image and exported it for the web from Adobe Photoshop. Unfortunately those files are all in another country right now. I'll be up in a month or so and could send them to you. The main thing is to play with the line width I think, I don't know if there is any free software that can do the same thing. Best of luck and let me know if there is anything else I can do! BTW I don't know that much about organic, but took a course in it a year or two ago and got inspired to start a free textbook about it on Wikipedia, which was subsequently rejected, but as a restult we founded Wikibooks, with OChem as the first book started.--Karl Wick 01:43, 18 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Book progress images

Hi! The team of Polish Wikibooks wants to put proper license tags in every image page. Could you put a license tag on xx% images? We need them to make our edition free of non-tagged and fair use images. Thanks in advance! Sblive 14:42, 2 Jul 2005 (UTC)

Wait .. I think I don't understand. What are xx% images? License tags? Image pages? What exactly is this? And why is it necessary? Thanks, --Karl Wick 4 July 2005 00:43 (UTC)

These images are images that shows book's progress. We need to clear out pl.Wikibooks from images that are not allowed on pl.Wikipedia, and to set proper tags for everything. Sblive 8 July 2005 08:01 (UTC)

I'd like a licencing too, in order to upload them on Commons. Thanks ! Faager 10:14, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

OK, these () are the images you are talking about, right? You need permission to use those images under a licence other than the GNU FDL? I guess I designed the image, so I give you permission to use it in any way that you please. --Karl Wick 14:52, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

Thank you ! Faager 13:35, 14 July 2005 (UTC)

Ok, thank, I'd needed only information about licence for pl.Wikibooks. Sblive 13:30, 16 July 2005 (UTC)

Transcendentalism Theology

Hi Karl. I've been in Germany for some time. I intended to do some editing on Transcendentalism Theology & noticed that it had been scheduled for deletion. Can I make corrections in order to avoid this? Kurt

I think that some people are trying to delete all kinds of material. I think the problem might be that they want to institute the same Wikipedia policy here of the NPV, or neutral point of view. In my opinion books should be included on the site that are written from distinct points of view. However, the goal should be collaboration, or Wikibooks is just hosting. Your book is quite POV (oriented to one philosophical point of view), but given the topic, that only makes sense. However there are steps that we can take to make it more objective, such as stating "transcendentalist philosphy states ...", phrasing things in terms that noone can disaggree with. BTW what are your goals with including your work here on the site, instead of just publishing or having it hosted on its own site? Thanks, --Karl Wick 14:45, 13 July 2005 (UTC)

My goal is to help build a library of wikibooks - free and open textbooks. Thanks for the advise; I will make the changes that you suggested. The notice that it had been scheduled for deletion was placed there by one person some time ago and I see no others agreeing with it, so can this notice be removed? Thanks again for your help, Karl. Kurt

Proposal for policy overhaul

As the founder of Wikibooks, I thought you might be interested in the fact that I've started to think about changes to existing policy and project scope so that policies are more clearly defined (as suggested by User:Aya, who claims existing policies to be ambiguous) and more open (as suggested by User:Robert Horning over the biography debacle). I've made a post on textbook-l ([1]) as a result, please reply to my talk page for feedback. KelvSYC 05:53, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

The Wealthy Barber

A book you created, The Wealthy Barber, has been suggested for deletion. You might want to see the discussion at Wikibooks:Votes for deletion#The Wealthy Barber. --JMRyan 10:18, 6 December 2005 (UTC)

In the VfD, you mentioned that you wanted to look over this book before it was deleted, and determine if the material there was salvagable. I am going through the VfD page, trying to clean up old business, and the vote is currently Keep:1, Delete:3, and the single keep vote says we should delete the blank stub pages accociated with this title. I just wanted to know if you had come to a conclusion on this matter before we make a decision on the title, and archive the discussion. --Whiteknight (talk) (current) 19:55, 24 January 2006 (UTC)

Logo

You say on your userpage:

Designed stacked-books Wikibooks logo.

Is this the current logo? User:Perl has made this edit. Who designed what? Gerrit 19:55, 2 February 2006 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the other guys did to modify it, but the original Adobe Illustrator file was created by me on my old iMac, with the halo symbol and wikibooks words. I don't remember where the stacked books idea came from, maybe I took that stacked-book idea from one of the Wikipedia logos... Hope that helps...

Recent edit to Template:Main Page introduction

The Main Page line [[Wikibooks:FAQ|FAQ]] | [[Main Page (table free)|Table-free]] appears inside the "Highlighted books" box you created on Template:Main Page introduction. This appears to be unintended, but I don't know whether it's worth fixing. On one hand it does not, at least currently, look bad. On the other hand, the "FAQ" and "Table-free" links do not logically belong in the "Highlighted books" box, and it does affect the line breaks in the list of books. At any rate, it's something to consider. --JMRyan 23:20, 24 February 2006 (UTC)

Really? On my Windows laptop (sorry!) those page elements show up outside the highlighted area. If it does not show up right on your computer you can play with the code to make it look better! --Karl Wick 01:29, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

The new template looks good. I could not edit the template so took the liberty of creating a page: PDF Versions to keep track of these. There are two new PDFs listed. I have almost run out of books with good content to turn into PDFs and will turn back to the tricky ones, like Trigonometry, that blow all the software over as they are converted. RobinH 11:09, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Thanks RobinH! I noticed that page you made already somehow and put a link to it from the front page. Thanks for your great work, that really is helpful! PS Lets see about getting you admin capabilities, I am sort of just coming back to activity here after being off elsewhere for a while and don't remember who/how it is done ... --Karl Wick 11:14, 5 March 2006 (UTC)

Unused files

Can you take a look at Special:Unusedimages? There are some images and other files uplojavascript:insertTags('--Karl Wick 23:37, 12 March 2006 (UTC)',,); Your signature with timestampaded by you, I don't know if I can remove them. --Derbeth ^talk 12:36, 8 March 2006 (UTC)

Sorry for the delay, I got distracted. Philosophically, it would make more sense to me to just leave those files alone rather than to delete them. I looked through and found a couple that were good images that have been cut out of current versions of pages, and I am not sure why. One methane pic that I built a model for and everything I reincluded in Organic Chemistry, another couple of public domain Civil War-era pics I dug up for the US History book I dunno why they got cut. But, I guess if there is a good reason to "clean up" the area and you want to, you can do so without problems from me. --Karl Wick 23:37, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

bartending contents

Hey karl was there a problem with the TOC code on the bartending book? your diff said "show the contents again", i'm not quite sure what you meant. Does any TOC class not just auto ones get hidden when your preferences turn off TOCs? Discordance 13:53, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

Ah, I shouldn't have given it the toc id. sorted it out now. Discordance 14:35, 9 March 2006 (UTC)

PDF Versions page

Hi Karl! Please see: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:Staff_lounge#The_PDF_Versions_page RobinH 21:27, 12 March 2006 (UTC)

Status of Wikibooks and my involvement + Organic Chemistry Wikibook

I got into a bit of a public disagreement with Jimmy Wales over the status of Wikibooks, and more importantly his involvement with the project. I respect Jimmy and I think he has done some wonderful things in the past. He is also a very good public face for the Wikimedia projects, and is doing some absolutely incredible PR work by traveling all over the world being a general goodwill ambassador and doing face to face meetings that are of critical importance.

My big objection is that he stopped by Wikibooks and saw only a mess of things, because we were still in the middle of trying to clean up quite a few problems that had been left alone in the past. Jimbo was thinking more with the mentality of Wikipedia where articles are deleted at the drop of a hat and essentially wanted a few books removed that didn't seem to work out too well when he was doing his PR tours. Most notably was the Jokebook and a book about Nudism, and he was also disappointed that some publicity came up over a Neo-Nazi propaganda book that was also here on Wikibooks. Instead of trying to see what the admins and users who got up some effort to do cleanup were actually doing, he started to demand that these books be removed and granted himself adminship here on Wikibooks to help with removing those books.

My main argument was that if he wanted to start a VfD discussion on these books, he was certainly welcome, and that was an acceptable forum for that to happen. Basically I said "trust the community to get it right". I still think that is true, and there is some strong relutance on the part of several board members to trust in the community concensus concept. Instead Jimbo went and unilaterally deleted two of the three books, and only deleted the main "front page" of the book as well. The rest of the modules for each book was still in place, just harder to get to.

BTW, each of the books he complained about went to a subsequent VfD and were deleted by the community without Jimbo doing anything directly. His attitude about the content of them certainly influenced the opinion of what was said during the VfDs and significantly tipped the balance to remove that content. The major after effect of this is a group of people have also come on since then with a more deletionist attitude to Wikibooks, notably with a significant effort to remove the Video Game guides (that appears to have failed or at least run out of steam).

Jimbo hasn't really been that active on Wikibooks lately, and the project has calmed down quite a bit in terms of mainly uncertainty over what was acceptable here and what was not. His push toward textbooks instead of general non-fiction is an interesting approach, but I fail to see what general non-fiction non-textbooks are doing to Wikibooks that is damaging and indeed can bring in people to Wikibooks with skills that are needed even by textbook contributors.

I also issued a formal apology to Jimbo that was on Foundation-l, but I also feel that I have been shut out of any further involvement with the Wikimedia Foundation. Perhaps I've stepped on too many toes. That's OK for now, though, and I'm trying to do my part where I can here.

First off, thank you for your complete reply to my questions.

My philosophy leans to include the video game guides and other "light" or non-textbook material as well, although I respect Jimmy's organizational insight as well. As long as those books have a place to be developed I guess it's fine with me either way, and there could be benefit in a sharply defined focus.

In fact, I have been thinking if it makes sense to divide Wikibooks by academic level, so that by subdomain or something all the materials will be for K-5, 6-8, 9-12, university level, adult vocational education, etc. But "those wiser than me" should be consulted to see if it makes sense to divide the current books by level later, after a critical mass of materials has already been developed, or do it now, before more work is done. If we were to to it right now, then a 3rd-grade teacher that wants to contribute could find a site that looked, smelled, and tasted like grade school, without the risk or confusion of age-inappropriate materials. Actually I'm thinking out loud and think I will suggest to Jimmy that he consult with Peter Drucker or someone who can give the wisest, most seasoned insight. What we should seek is what will follow tried principles, and not just what fits our own philosophies.

I remember the example of Apple Computer, which back in the day apparently snubbed video game producers and said that the Mac would be for business use only, and it later bit them when that lucrative business was given to "the competition." My personal philosophy would be to do everything and not turn anyone away, or at least give people a place to do what they want to do. I was originally turned away from Wikipedia when I started writing the Organic Chemistry textbook there, because "Wikipedia is not a place for textbooks", but Jimmy very graciously helped us set up Wikibooks, to write textbooks here.

PS Sorry for the misunderstanding with Jimmy and the Wikimedia Foundation, but I would just guess that things should work out fine over time. --Karl Wick 21:47, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Organic Chemistry Content

I consider this to be basically your baby and I'm not really going to care what you do to the content so much. I saw that what is here is quite impressive as it is, and I created the "print version" based on what I saw was a good start in the various modules. If there is content that is useful from Wikipedia, go for it and bring it in. Keep in mind that it is going to be a fork of Wikipedia, but you should have some good judgement that way.

It's not my baby or anything, and I am very grateful to those who have continued editing it. I am far from being an expert on the subject but would love for this to be a resource for other students and teachers of the subject. My fingers are in so many pots right now that there is no way for me to micro-manage anything.

I did a quick import of the Organic Chemistry Wikibook into Open Office to see how it might look and to perhaps do some preparation work before I made a PDF file out of the content. Format changes (aka web to dead tree format in this case) does present some problems, and the MediaWiki software isn't always cooperative in terms of doing that sort of conversion.

Basically there is some heavy editing that needs to take place with this content. Citing sources of information and in general making it "sound" consistant throughout the book. There are at least five different writing styles, and these do sometimes clash in terms of making the content flow. I also feel that there is some missing introductory material that might be useful in the beginning, although having as a prerequisite the General Chemistry Wikibook might be useful to point out as well.

The Appendix portion is really messed up, and some of that content perhaps should be moved to the main part of the Wikibook. Organic Chemistry/Acetone peroxide synthesis in particular needs to find a better home. I see it was moved to Wikibooks from Wikipedia, and has quite the interesting discussion on it, due to a high profile Wikipedia entry that has this module directly linked in a prominent location. The Organic Chemistry/Introduction to reactions group of pages is so complete that I would think it perhaps should be moved into the main-line part of the book as well. It is practically its own Wikibook in its own right.

For some of this I wish I knew more about the topic. I'm more of an engineer type myself, and familiar with electronics and software engineering principles. This topic is really way out of my league, other than I happen to understand some of the basic chemistry terminology. I still know enough that I can help with the navigation links and do some general page formatting, simply to give this book another shot in the arm to help make it more inviting and professional to somebody who knows the subject matter and may want to help contribute. I hope I've done that at least with the material that is here. --Rob Horning 05:19, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for each and every edit that you make, I believe that we really are making this world a better place with our efforts. PS Is the old Jokebook content still online anywhere else? --Karl Wick 21:47, 14 March 2006 (UTC)

Re: the old Jokebook. I just restarted the page as essentially a soft redirect to the Lollerpedia, whose link in on the page here on Wikibooks. I hope that doesn't get too many people upset over what I wrote there. --Rob Horning 11:01, 19 March 2006 (UTC)

Main Page

I know. It's just that, until it's cleaned up, it's not really suitable to be at the top of the main page.

I have some ideas for improvements to the main page, but I'm still trying to get to grips with what good stuff is in wikibooks - as it is the best that should be highlighted. I will make suggestions sometime, but probably not for a while yet, Jguk 21:26, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

OK --Karl Wick 21:28, 18 March 2006 (UTC)

Images which you uploaded

Your image upload gallery

I have been using User:Kernigh/monobook.js (copied from Commons:MediaWiki:Extra-tabs.js) to explore Wikibookians' image uploads. Thus I noticed that some of your older images are untagged, and do not give copyright information.

For images like Image:Martaplays.png, maybe you could remember whether you drew the image yourself or obtained it from somewhere, then add a copyright tag. Some of your other images say "from wikipedia"; someone might need to search for the image in Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons, then check if the copyright is okay. --Kernigh 06:54, 17 April 2006 (UTC)

Graphic design wikibook

I'm interested in helping you out on the graphic design Wikibook, to add some images and copy and get that started back up. If you're interested, please PM me on my Wikipedia user page. Thanks! LockeShocke 01:35, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Policy review

Policy is not the most exciting subject at Wikibooks but we do have some major unresolved issues.

The most important issue, in my opinion, is Dispute resolution which starts by declaring that:

"Currently there is no official organized process to resolve disputes between users"

The suggested remedy for this is: Wikibooks:Ad hoc administration committee which puts into place the absolute minimum in terms of an enforcement apparatus.

The second most important is Wikibooks:No personal attacks where a vote has recommended the policy be enforced but it still languishes as "proposed".

The third policy that is needed and which will prevent edit disputes from getting out of hand is Wikibooks:Editing disputes policy.

Other policies that need consideration are at: Policies and guidelines.

Please spare a minute or two to peruse these issues and add a comment and/or a vote. RobinH 12:45, 28 April 2006 (UTC)

Thank you for your offer of help. Wikibooks:No personal attacks is experiencing the greatest problems at the moment. Although the vote is overwhelmingly in favour of enforcement the discussion makes it appear as if those who oppose are in the majority.

Wikibooks:General voting rules, proposed by Derbeth, also needs comment/support. It is the lack of any voting policy that has allowed so many proposed policies to be blocked. The losers in any vote can just claim that 100% consensus is required for a policy to be implemented!

Wikibooks:Editing disputes policy simply needs more votes. RobinH 09:35, 22 May 2006 (UTC)

Gramma's Grammar

I recently found this orphaned book tha you wrote. What would you like to do with it? Perhaps add it to Wikijunior? --hagindaz 14:13, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Logo

Hello, I found in the history you created the wikibooks-logo with this number of books. Now some fool on commons has deleted the file, we can only find small thumbs. Do you have the original somewhere? Or better, a vector-version? That would be great. Or could you maybe provide us information who might have those? Please give a reaction on my commons-talkpage, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/user:effeietsanders . Thanks a lot. Effeietsanders 22:49, 1 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikibooks:Editing disputes policy

This policy needs a few more people to take a look at it and vote. Any help would be most useful. RobinH 14:25, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Wikibooks:General voting rules/Proposal

I want to call the attention of all wikibookians, especially active admins to the discussion about the new voting policy. Wikibooks currently does not have a concrete voting policy in effect, so the adaptation of this policy will potentially create immediate differences in the way business is conducted here. Due to large amounts of discussion, changes, and dissention, there are several versions of this policy being considered:

• Version 1 Written by User:Whiteknight
• Version 2 Written by User:Jguk
• Version 3 User:RobinH's revision of Jguk's version
• Version 4 Written by User:Kellen
• Version 5 Whiteknight's Revision of Kellen's Version.

Also, there are additional issues being discussed, such as the inclusion of a "minimum contributions" clause, that will limit users with less then 20 votes from editing. Also, there is a proposed clause that would allow this 20 vote minimum to be raised in response to abuse.

I am sending this same message to all currently active admins. I hope you are able to come in and give your opinions on this matter. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 20:47, 11 August 2006 (UTC)

Inspiring Organic Chemistry book

Karl,

I just wanted to let you know that your book served as an excellent model to me as I undertook starting a Human Physiology textbook as a class project. It has been an exciting process as our book has come together nicely during the past 7 weeks. Thanks for your work, and for your vision of what a Wikibook can be. Provophys 22:54, 29 August 2006 (UTC)

Images with unknown license

We've recently adopted a bot that can track down images that aren't properly licensed, and a large number of images that you have uploaded are not properly licensed. You haven't specified a valid email address, so I am leaving you a message here about it. Also, I asked Jimbo if he knew how to get in touch with you, but there has been no reply from him yet. I would hate to see all the images that you have uploaded get deleted, especially if they don't need to be. Please get in contact with me, or post a message on the staff lounge about these images, so that we don't lose all your hard work in that department. --Whiteknight (talk) (projects) 14:21, 5 September 2006 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:S-orbital.png

Thanks for uploading Image:S-orbital.png. However, the image may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and copyright status. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law (see Wikibooks' Copyright policy).

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Wikibooks:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask them at the Study help desk. Thank you. Jusjih 08:19, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

OGG VS MP3

I was reading your discussion regarding the differences between the two formats. While both are fairly popular, there is one main difference. OGG is a free open source format, while MP3 is licsenced, so in this case, OGG would be the better choice for a wiki project.

Bearingbreaker92 03:33, 8 April 2007 (UTC)

Your De-Adminship

Hello. I would like to inform you that you will have your sysop rights removed here on 3 Aug 2007 due to inactivity. If you would like to discuss the matter, please see WB:RFA. You can re-apply for adminship at a later date if you wish. Thanks. -withinfocus 12:05, 27 July 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Ochemicon.png

Thanks for uploading Image:Ochemicon.png. The Wikimedia Foundation is very careful about the images included in Wikibooks because of copyright law, and requires that we maintain a strict copyright policy. The image that may soon be deleted unless we can determine the copyright holder and status.

The copyright holder is usually the creator, the creator's employer, or the last person who was transferred ownership rights. Copyright information on images is signified using copyright templates. The three basic license types on Wikibooks are open content, public domain, and fair use. Find the appropriate template in Wikibooks:Image copyright tags and place it on the image page like this: {{TemplateName}}.

Please signify the copyright information on any other images you have uploaded or will upload. Remember that images without this important information or giving false information can be deleted by an administrator. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me, or ask another Wikibookian at the help desk. Thank you. – Mike.lifeguard | ^talk 01:19, 31 August 2007 (UTC)

Spanish wikibook

Check out my new vocabulary page at Spanish/Vocabulary/People. What do you think of structuring the vocabulary pages this way? Cilantrohead (talk) 00:40, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

Physics with transforms

This message box is using an invalid "type=warning" parameter and needs fixing.

Dear Karl Wick,

From the history page of Physics with transforms/Explanation & How to Use it appears you pasted in a big block of text.

That block of text was specifically pointed to at the Wikibooks:Votes for deletion#Physics with transforms discussion as a possible copyright violation of http://physicstransforms.tripod.com/id3.html .

Forgive me for bugging you with the Template:Vfd warning about something that happened over 5 (!) years ago. --DavidCary (talk) 15:05, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

Welcome back!

The founder of Wikibooks is back! I have to be honest, I didn't think you'd return here since you were last seen in October 2008; that's even before I came across this site myself. That's quite some time to be gone. There have been quite a few extensions installed and you may notice several new people and several that are missing. Like the new main page? Anything else tickle your fancy or give you pause? I'm sure others would be interested in any comments you decide to write in the reading room and most of us could use an introduction as most are unfamiliar with Wikibooks' early history and yourself. I'm not quite sure where you're going with Brain Rules for Baby, else I'd see what I could do to help. Glad to see you around again. – Adrignola discuss 02:53, 4 March 2011 (UTC)

Brain Rules for Baby

I know you've been here forever, but this seems a really odd book to create... it doesn't seem to fit in the scope at all. Were you planning to turn it into something else? QU ^TalkQu 09:51, 6 March 2011 (UTC)