User talk:Brett epic

Hello Brett epic! Welcome to Wikipedia! Thank you for your contributions. You may benefit from following some of the links below, which will help you get the most out of Wikipedia. If you have any questions you can ask me on my talk page, or place {{helpme}} on your talk page and ask your question there. Please remember to sign your name on talk pages by clicking or by typing four tildes "~~~~"; this will automatically produce your name and the date. If you are already loving Wikipedia you might want to consider being "adopted" by a more experienced editor or joining a WikiProject to collaborate with others in creating and improving articles of your interest. Click here for a directory of all the WikiProjects. Finally, please do your best to always fill in the edit summary field. Happy editing! IsleScapeTalk 11:39, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Room for improvement

Brett, I am putting this message at the end of the page because it is the common pratice on Wikipedia. Also, makes easier to follow messages and replies in a thread. For your interest, you may want to join the team at WP:International Development that has plenty of information for a kick start. Although my edit interests have slightly diverted over time but would be glad to be around. And I agree with you that many aspects on co-ops and rural development etc need attention. You can even create many new pages in the areas of your expertise. --IsleScape^Talk 19:58, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

Credit Union History

Hi Brett! Welcome to wikipedia, and thank you for taking up the cause of Credit Union history. I intended to work on it a while back, but haven't found the time, nor am I an expert on it. You've already got more info than I know about, and it's great that you've got a global perspective on it. If you can edit down the current history section of Credit Unions to a brief summary, that would be great. Keep up the good work! --Mmpartee 03:28, 30 June 2007 (UTC)

Hi Brett (I'm not good at conversation on wikipedia yet, I assume this is a good place to answer your question on my talk page?) Anyway, to answer your question about "modern" in terms of credit unions, the reason I say this is that the concept of neighbors pooling money to provide financing for each other is probably about as old as dirt, or at least as old as the concept of money. But whether or not such activity can be called a 'credit union' in the modern sense of the word would be up for debate. I'm not an expert in this area, but I think I've read somewhere to this effect. hope this is helpful! --Mmpartee (talk) 19:49, 14 January 2008 (UTC)

Hey Brett, I see that you are in Toronto - very cool. I visited there for the first time last fall. I just wanted to tell you about a recent event we just had at America's Credit Union Museum called BarCampBank NewEngland. (http://barcamp.org/BarCampBankNewEngland ). We even had a fellow Ontario-native attend. I didn't think to check wikipedia for others to invite, or else I would have extended the invitation to you also. If you want to connect, I'm on Facebook. I'm about to start a new wikipedia entry that you may be interested in. --Mmpartee (talk) 15:11, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Howdy

Hi Brett! Based on you editing interests, I just have to ask. Are you a Kiva lender? Also, if you like editing here, take a look at considering joining us Kivapedians and Kiva Friends. :-) Regards, RichardF 19:16, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Hi Richard! Actually I'm a Kiva-skeptic. There's a lot of evidence that external credit actually harms poor people by undermining local incentives to provide them with quality micro-savings services. Most poor people need savings -- for health care, education and asset accumulation -- far more than they need loans. Poor people's savings is more patient capital, it's more stable, it does more for the local economy, and it helps poor people to build their own institutions. Take a look at Microcredit/Criticism (second paragraph).

This probably isn't what you wanted to hear. For the record, I share a lot of your other interests in development, so let's stay in touch!Brett epic 19:37, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Hey Richard what is a wiki portal, anyway?Brett epic 20:50, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

Woo-Hoo! A portal is a doorway to Wikipedia! ;-) A good place to start is the List of portals. The "fancy" ones are called Featured portals. I list the one's I've managed to take to featured portal status on my user page. Obviously, that's how I spend most of my time here these days. :-) I started The Sustainable development Portal because I wanted a place to showcase the Kiva article (the article sucks, but you get the idea ;-). I tried finding enough content for a portal on "microfinance" or "international development," but it really didn't "work" until I expanded out to "sustainable development." I'm a "systems thinker" by inclination and "social justice" old fart by scar tissue, so I can relate to your frustrations, although you're obviously more of a seasoned war horse than I (my background is more of community mental health and education - more losses than wins in those fights). From a "sustainable development" perspective, I'm still very optimistic about the potential of the Internet to leverage ways to help poor folks help themselves. Let's keep an eye on things to help guide them in the right direction. ;-) RichardF 21:12, 4 July 2007 (UTC)

How many articles do you need, by the way, to feed a portal (you have me thinking ...)? As for the internet -- such a powerful tool, but so elusive in the battle against poverty. I do dream of a day when it's possible to do very useful things online using an interface that includes no words. We've got a ways to go still :)

I like to have at least 10 each "good" articles, pictures and biographies (preferably 20) before I start a portal. You can start one with fewer basic items, but that means the scope/coverage really isn't sufficient/noteworthy enough to be a solid featured portal contender. I think it's probably possible to do one on microfinance, but I concluded from a little feasibility study I did (actually creating a "first draft"), that even the international development topic was too weak on Wikipedia to warrant a portal. An alternative would be to pick a few articles, make them "portal worthy" and then add them to Sustainable development. If something like that interests you, I can show you how to include them when they're ready. :-)

Thanks for all your comments Richard! I appreciate the time you're taking with me!

When it comes to getting articles 'portal-ready' I'd love to help with some of the microfinance ones (though some (especially microcredit) seem almost beyond repair :(. I know eventually as I keep writing I'm going to have to deal with the problem of copyright for photos and try to insert more graphics. Do you know any shortcuts?Brett epic 02:58, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I agree many of the articles on this topic suck. "Un"/fortunately, I'm much better at the "no words" part of wikilife (e.g., portal design) than I am at the words part. You really can't get around copyright issues here. For words, you can paraphrase. For images, you're pretty much stuck with playing by the rules. Know anyone with a good digital camera?

Since you're a newbie with portals, here's a tip you might not know yet. Go to Sustainable development then click on Show new selections It will randomly change what shows in all of the "Selected..." and "DYK" boxes! To see where they're coming from, click on the "...Archive/Nominations" links at the lower left-hand corner of each box. That's how you can see what articles, pics, etc., already are included with the portal. If you have a good prospect or two to add to any of these sections, let me know when they're ready to go in and I'll make sure all the adjustments are made to have them randomly/magically appear! ;-) RichardF 03:36, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks Richard -- I like the sustainable development portal. Very nicely laid out! I hope I can help you on the content side of this in future!Brett epic 16:31, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Cool, I'm sure it's just a matter of time! By the way, you now are an authority at Kiva Friends. :-) RichardF 17:58, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

I admire your approach Richard -- I hope your chats at Kiva lead to something useful! Brett epic 21:33, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Stay tuned. ;-) RichardF 23:57, 5 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your contributions!

Hi Brett -- this is Ramón. Richard alerted me to your page and contributions here on Wikipedia-- great! I wrote a response at Kivafriends regarding a shift in focus from Microfinance to Microsavings. I think the objective is noble, but I think that growing people's net worth in developing countries mainly means increasing people's non-monetary assets there. Having lived in Latin America, people distrust both the banking system and the monetary system (especially if it's not in dollars/euros) since both have let them down in the past and caused them to lose all of their savings. Therefore, poor people see money merely as a way to obtain or convert assets rather than a way to create value for them. Solutions? Well-- major improvements in governability is one of them. Creating value for assets beyond their utilitarian value is another. (ah-- yes I may have been influenced a bit by Hernando de Soto...) I think until this trust issue is addressed, poor people in developing countries may be more interested in Microcredit as a way to invest to increase their assets and less in actual monetary savings. And increasing this trust will take lots of time... I'm going to read your Cambodia article-- we may have lots of ideas in common! BTW-- I am not an economist (I'm a telecom engineer), but I *am* an analytical thinker that likes to ponder about these issues. I'm also a Kiva enthusiast as you may have guessed... Thanks for all your contributions! It's great to have a discussion about this, make people think, develop ideas and opinions, and ACT ON THEM. Ramonk 11:26, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Hi Ramón -- I have done very little work in Latin America, but it sounds from what you say very much like the context in much of Asia. The problem of trust, lost savings from the banking system etc. -- very familiar! Very much a perpetuator of poverty.

As a big de Soto fan myself, I don't want to be misunderstood either. I am not denying that in some settings the prospects for building strong institutions can be so remote that 'relief' (through externally funded microcredit for those who know how to play the game well enough to access it) may be the best we can hope for in the forseeable future. (Though I also find far too many donors and practititioners using that argument as an excuse for engaging in superficial, relief-style interventions rather than taking on the much tougher development ones.) Even for those people who do gain access to microcredit, development will be slow since there is no safe place for them to save their earnings at home and so in effect, little potential for them to accumulate or reliably protect their assets. I like the progress I've seen in India with self-help groups -- especially APMAS or you can go to the Self Help Group Gateway. There are other cases (ASCAs and CVECAs in West Africa, FSAs in East Africa, and re-invigorated cooperatives in various places), and I plan to keep that 'new microfinance' moving! I hope you'll join me.Brett epic 17:35, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

International Credit Union Operating Principles

Hello Brett. Welcome to Wikipedia. I am not sure exactly why your article was deleted, but you should not be discouraged. Do you have a copy of the text of your article, either in a sandbox or your browser's history? If you could show me the text of the article and copy and paste it to here, I will take a look at it and let you know what I think. It's quite possible that your article just needs a small change or two to avoid deletion. Gobonobo ^{T C} 16:53, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Hi Brett & Gobonobo. As long as I was in the neighborhood stalking Ramon, >;-o) I'll chime in. Just keep plugging away. There's always some way to get around pesky "deletionists." It's just a matter of getting the citations straight, which might mean quoting a little less text per block. Also, since the World Council of Credit Unions article is just a stub, you might consider adding some sections there, one of which could be a summary of the Operating Principles, e.g., a bulleted list of them with brief summaries. Just keep in mind there's more than one way to eat / feed! an elephant! ;-) RichardF 17:10, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Thanks for your advice, both of you! I've contacted the World Council to inquire whether they have any copyright issues. Editors probably confuse WOCCU with a normal corporation and so over-reaction may be quite natural. Anyway, I'll keep plugging away and as you say, there's usually more than one way to 'skin a cat'.Brett epic 17:46, 6 July 2007 (UTC)

Gidday Brett and thanks...

... for all the great work you've been doing on Cambodia related articles - it's great to see another editor taking an interest. I noticed you've been having a go at the many missing Cambodian district articles starting with Banan (Cambodia). I've been slowly working my way along that list as well, starting with the districts in Pursat Province. It's slow work and it's great to see someone else working on them. I notice we've both been using different naming styles for the article and wanted to discuss using the same naming conventions just to keep things consistent. I've been using [[districtname (district)]] but it may not be the best way. Let me know what you think and a belated welcome aboard. Cheers, Paxse 14:40, 11 July 2007 (UTC)

Hey Brett, sorry for the late reply - yep I'll be here in August, this is home now. Don't give up on the Cambodia articles, we need editors who are interested in the place. Being familiar with Kampong Thom is an added advantage :) On that note, can I suggest you might like to stick your name down at Wikipedia:WikiProject Cambodia? It's a collection of editors interested in Cambodia - no commitment involved but it would be great to have you on board. Cheers, Paxse 07:23, 20 July 2007 (UTC)

License tagging for Image:BRAC villageorg 1.jpg

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Development stuff

Hi - just saw your name at WP:International Development, and checked your userpage - seems we have many common interests. I'm mainly at Appropedia these days, but still contribute encyclopedic material here.

Will come back when I have more time and look more at your KIVA-skeptic comments. My initial thought is that credit and savings are not mutually incompatible - a scheme I was looking at in East Java recently has mobilized a substantial amount of money* in savings, which are used in making further loans. The women I spoke to were positive about the effect the loans had had in their lives, though I would need to look a lot deeper to make very confident statements about this.

• The figure I recall was about Rp 500 million (US$50,000) among 3000 women... which actually doesn't sound like much, so I'll have to check back on that.

I'm currently in Taipei for Wikimania - very exciting! --Chriswaterguy talk 07:47, 31 July 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 14 August, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article Edward Filene, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Carabinieri 20:07, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Excellent job with the expansion. I enjoyed the read -- Samir 22:16, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Oral Tradition

Hi Brett-- I added a bibliographical note to address the sourcing issue; see the discussion page for the article. Maybe that'll help. DavidOaks 20:52, 15 August 2007 (UTC)

DYK

On 18 August, 2007, Did you know? was updated with a fact from the article orality, which you created or substantially expanded. If you know of another interesting fact from a recently created article, then please suggest it on the Did you know? talk page.

--Carabinieri 23:01, 18 August 2007 (UTC)

MFI interest rates

Brett,

Wikipedia doesn't seem to know what a "flat" interest rate is. I probably don't either. The closest I could find was, "'Flat interest rate' is the rate of interest that is determined at the time of application and is fixed for the duration of the loan." I also seem to be missing the nuances among "simple" "flat" and "nominal" interest. Any help there would be appreciated. More generally, I came across this article, Effective Interest Rate (EIR) (pdf) by William R. Tucker at the UNDCF Microfinance Distance Learning Program. I tried to do some searching at CGAP for the discussions you alluded to, but that seemed like an exercise in futility. Can you point me to a general discussion of how MFI interest rates "should" be reported for comparability comparisons and such? I just raised the question at Kiva Friends, but I really couldn't say much about the relative merits of different approaches, so I didn't. (I also read your comments at the Kiva article after I posted this.) RichardF 02:16, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

p.s. How about this? CGAP. "Microcredit Interest Rates," Occasional Paper No. 1, August 1996. RichardF 03:48, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

ALTERNATIVE 4 — Flat Interest: Same as Base Case, except that “flat” interest is calculated on the entire loan amount, rather than on declining balances, and is prorated over the four monthly payments.

Compute Cash Flows: Total interest is 120 [1000 x 3% x 4 mos.]. Total principal plus interest is 1120 [1000 + 120], or 280 each month [1120 ¸ 4].

Compute Effective Interest Rate: PV = 1000; PMT = -280; n = 4. Solving for i yields an effective monthly rate of 4.69%, which is multiplied by 12 for an APR of 56.3%. (page 6) RichardF 04:01, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

Looks like you've got it! Good luck with Kiva!Brett epic 04:50, 19 August 2007 (UTC)

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Wikimania 2009

Toronto Candidate City for Wikimania 2009
Support TORONTO in its bid to become the host city of WIKIMANIA 2009 The University of Toronto is the planned host site, which I see is your alma-mater! Visit m:Wikimania 2009/Toronto for TORONTO's MetaWiki page and help build a strong bid.

-- Zanimum 16:43, 22 October 2007 (UTC)

In Remembrance...

--nat ^{Alo! Salut! Sunt eu, un haiduc?!?!} 00:28, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

Microfinance

Hi Brett, you left me a message a while ago that I meant to respond to and have just realized I never did! Just to say I think you're very brave to take the subject on :) and please let me know if there's anything I can o to help. I am, as you surmised, a little frustrated by the constant promotion of individual organizations (however noble their work) in an article that is supposed to be about a concept. I don't consider myself in any way an expert on the field and feel inadequate to writing a decent summary. I am however happy to do any grunt work you need, or provide a fresh eye if it would be useful. -- SiobhanHansa 16:29, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with Image:Saving down.jpg

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chatting...

Hi Brett,

We exchanged notes on our talk pages in around late July last year, about development and MF issues, and were going to get in touch when we were less busy. "Less busy" is probably not going to happen this decade, but if you're up for Skype, my username is the same as my username here.

I'm involved with the Grameen Foundation Australia, though my main work is on Appropedia. --Chriswaterguy talk 00:28, 14 February 2008 (UTC)

NPOV Dispute, Microfinance

Hi Brett. I deal with it like this :-) If there are still issues this will hopefully prompt Cherlin (or any other editor) to provide helpful commentary on the talk page so they can be addressed. When I've made a good faith attempt to address issues flagged by an editor I normally remove the tag with a similar message. Sometimes editors (myself included!) are busy and don't prioritize issues that leave their edits/tags etc. intact on the article - they might well agree with the changes but haven't gotten around to removing the tag. Sometimes the editor has stopped editing for a while. These things shouldn't hold up improving the article. Being proactive like this (obviously with a genuine expectation that another editor may restore the tag and that that's OK) can be a good way of moving things along when talk page notes are not responded to.

I guess ideally we wouldn't have a criticism section at all. Our manual of style prefers pro and con POVs to be handled throughout the entire article (in a manner appropriate to their acceptance within the field) rather than in separate sections. But I think that's a job for an attempt at Good Article status rather than to defuse an NPOV tag. In any case it didn't really seem to be what Cherlin had a problem with - which seemed more focused on the presentation of the criticisms as wide spread without supporting citations and which you seemed to address in your edits. Sorry I haven't been paying much attention to the article lately. I'm not spending much time on-wiki at the moment. Hope this has been helpful. -- SiobhanHansa 02:28, 12 May 2008 (UTC)

AfD: EverythingCU.com

Hi there, Brett. As someone who has done great work on the credit union history and Edward Filene articles on wikipedia, it would be great if you weighed in on the AfD (2nd time) for EverythingCU.com. Though I've contributed to wikipedia for a while now, I still feel like a newbie, so I hope it's not wrong of me to ask you to weigh in on this one. Thank you! --Mmpartee (talk) 18:25, 24 June 2008 (UTC)

Thanks for chiming in, and the tips. I would tell the story of EverythingCU, but I have to follow the guideline about no original research. That BusinessWest article was not linked to at the time the AfD#2 was opened. Hopefully other editors can (re-)vote now that that is being referenced extensively. Like you said, the mainstream media will def not cover this site, but it is significant because of the movement of which it is a part, and you cited the numbers nicely. Thank you! --Mmpartee (talk) 07:53, 25 June 2008 (UTC)

Credit Unions

Brett, I revised the information stating that credit unions can be viewed as for profit institutions because it had no citation and seemed to me to be banker propoganda (espcially since it had no citation). I am a lawyer for the Credit Union National Association and no one here had ever heard of this debate regarding whether or not credit unions can be viewed as "for profit;" honestly, such a perception would be immensly damaging to the credit union movement. I think that some of this misunderstanding stems from the difference between "nonprofit" (i.e. a charity) and a "not-for-profit" (i.e. an institution like a credit union that turns a profit but has the prupose of operating to serve its members rather than turn a profit). I never wrote "non-profit" as such would be incorrect.

You do appear to be a credit union person but you would be amazed by the level of misinformation propogated by U.S. bankers in order to attempt to discredit credit unions and the credit union movement.

I have also been in touch with the World Council of Credit Unions in order to give this article a more international perspective. I am going to revise the entry somewhat with respect to your concerns, and am going to be in touch with WOCCU to see if your perceptions have a factual basis that none of our internationally-active CUNA people were aware of. I agree that much of the U.S. credit union information would work better in a section on U.S. credit unions and will work to that end. I am sorry for any breaches of etiquette. Mikel1777 (talk) 18:10, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Brett, I have just spoken with Barry Lennon, Vice President for Government Relations at WOCCU and formerly of USAID, and he says that he has never encountered a credit union that considers itself a "for profit" institution, even for its members. He says that many credit unions internationally get confused about the concept of "nonprofit" versus "not-for-profit" and think that they therefore are not allowed to turn a profit (which has contributed to some credit unions being undercapitalized), so he explains to them that they need to turn some profit to control for inflation, add to their capital reserves, and expand their business; these specific limitations on profit seeking purposes, however, are what distinguishes a "not-for-profit" from a "for-profit." Brett, you appear to be a development person but I am not sure if your insistence on the "for profit" thing is really grounded in reality as none of us here in the credit union movement have heard of it, so I would really like to see a citation. If you want, call or email Barry Lennon; his contact information is on woccu.org. Mikel1777 (talk) 20:05, 14 July 2008 (UTC)

Bret, thanks for your note on my talk page and the info on the discussion page of the "credit union" article there; you should look at the response that I wrote re: the "for profit" versus "not-for-profit" versus "nonprofit" distinction, and I will add some citations to the Oxford English Dictionary supporting these definitional subtleties later today. What the "not-for-profit" versus "for-profit" distinction really rests on is why is the institution organized? Is it organized to maximize profits (i.e. "for profit") or to serve its members even if it needs to turn a profit to do so (i.e. "not-for-profit") or is it a charity or similar NGO that relies on donations (i.e. "nonprofit")?

I also was pretty sure that you were not from a bank trade association because I read your article "Beyond the Bamboo Bank" and figured out some other details about you, and I am now convinced that you are not a bad banker (even if you are a banker in some respects). It would not be surprising to me, however, for U.S. bankers to hire an otherwise seemingly legitimate development professional with legitimate credit union ties in to order insinuate their propaganda into the Wikipedia, so I had some suspicions. That sort of stuff happens in the U.S. all the time; for example, check out the "Coalition for Credit Union Charter Options" http://www.ccuco.org/ which is a banker front organization that uses false flag tactics to try to discredit credit union opposition to charter conversions. Their membership director used to work at CUNA, but in a recent court case they refused to even disclose the name of a single credit union that was purportedly a member of their organization (and decided, instead, to dismiss their case voluntarily rather than disclose a name, likely because they have no credit union members). See "Conversion group quits challenge to NCUA," CUNA News Nows, http://www.cuna.org/newsnow/08/wash071508-6.html?ref=hed

I did not, however, want you to go away and I welcome your viewpoints and debate on these issues. I agree that it is important to emphasize that credit unions do need to generate a profit for limited purposes, but calling credit unions "for profit" (even in the context of "you can view credit unions as . . .") would be very, very bad for U.S. credit unions if not for other credit union systems as well. I assume that Congressional staffers -- who are inundated with banker lies about credit unions being "for profit" anyway -- read the Wikipedia. If they think that there is any even quasi-legitimate debate regarding whether or not credit unions are "not-for-profit" in terms of mission and spirit the U.S. credit union movement, at least, is in serious trouble. All of the people at CUNA who head about this "for profit" argument were shocked and agreed that it was likely banker propaganda, and that is why I edited the article so aggressively.

In addition, some of the other info on the page (such as the discussion about community charters) were clearly banker propaganda that, while subtle, was no doubt intended to make credit unions seem more "bank-like" (in this example, by trying to minimize the significance of our field of membership restrictions). This is a very serious issue as the U.S. Treasury Department recently issued a report calling for the elimination of all U.S. credit union charters and turning all credit unions into banks (the Treasury Secretary is a banker, as you might guess). See http://www.treas.gov/offices/domestic-finance/regulatory-blueprint/ (look at pages 159-161 of the report itself).

The bankers will try to twist credit union related information on the Wikipedia again, no doubt, and we will be monitoring the page regularly in order to try to prevent that sort of malicious misinformation. You probably are insulated from this but there is a war going on between U.S. banks and U.S. credit unions and the Wikipedia is just the latest front in that war. Looking at the history of the article and the talk page, it looks like we credit union trade association people are two years behind the bankers in terms of controlling the Wikipedia definition of our own movement.

You are right that we credit union trade association people have been slow to act on this; I am really the impetus for it because I read the Wikipedia all the time and realize its importance. Mikel1777 (talk) 16:31, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Brett, I have plenty of sources, not just from the U.S., that support the fact that credit unions are "not-for-profit" by definition. While I will try to write something that addresses your concerns, I am afraid that the burden of proof with respect to this issue has shifted to you. Mikel1777 (talk) 18:07, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Brett, okay, now I think that you are a banker puppet posing as a credit union person. The World Council of Credit Unions defines credit unions are "not-for-profit" http://www.woccu.org/about/creditunion What more do you want? The WOCCU definition has little to nothing to do with U.S. credit unions. You claim to represent credit unions worldwide but you are just one person. If you do not have sources, you have no business saying that credit unions are "for profit." If you do have sources, then cite them! I have met my burden of proof of factual verifiability. Mikel1777 (talk) 18:52, 16 July 2008 (UTC)

Brett has contacted me through email demanding that I apologize for stating earlier that "I think that you are a banker puppet," which he called an "outrageous lie." Pursuant to his demands, I wish to state on this forum that I retract this accusation and apologize for any offense that I may have caused him or his reputation, both professionally and personally. I have no evidence that he is a banker puppet. I acted without malice and I was not attempting to defame him. My only interest was protecting the integrity of credit unions and their reputations, as well as the integrity of the credit union article, from bankers who masquerade as credit union people; it is very unlikely, however, that Brett is one of these persons. I have now read several of his articles published outside the Wikipedia and he is very unlikely to be employed by bankers. I am sorry. Mikel1777 (talk) 14:06, 17 July 2008 (UTC)

Microcredit sources

Hi Brett. You made an offer here to provide some sources for a rewrite of the Microcredit article. I'd like to take you up on the offer. Hopefully I can make something that is at least a little better than the current mess. Thanks. -- SiobhanHansa 12:39, 17 August 2008 (UTC)

Hi Siobhan. Are you suggesting you're prepared to rewrite that article? I'd be delighted if the answer is yes! My assumption is that you would prefer digital resources, and if you can confirm that I'll put a package together for you -- though it will be a couple of weeks as my computer just crashed (India is tough on computers, and not easy on internet access, either) and retrieving microcredit classics has not so far been a priority!Brett epic (talk) 13:39, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

I'd like to have a go. I'm no expert on this stuff so I'm a little nervous about my ability to do it well and I don't think I could even attempt it without someone putting me on the right track. But the state of the current article really annoys me :) I do prefer digital resources but I do have access to a good public library system - I'm just not very familiar with it. I don't have access to a university system so a lot of academic texts may be hard for me to get hold of. Your offer is very much appreciated. -- SiobhanHansa 14:34, 18 August 2008 (UTC)

OK. I'll put a bibliography at the end of the article over the next couple of weeks as well. It will include the hard copy classics. Please do be patient as I'm even more busy than usual right now! I haven't waded into this article because microcredit is a positive magnet for people with ideological axes to grind. And as someone who works in the sector myself, I don't want to get tarred by them! As an outsider, you're frankly in a much better position. Microfinance was much easier as most of my colleagues don't care about it very much -- unless they're trying to convince the world that really microcredit IS microfinance. :)Brett epic (talk) 11:10, 19 August 2008 (UTC)

Thank you so much. I guess I have some work ahead of me :) -- SiobhanHansa 11:20, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Thanks again. That will give me somewhere to start before I can get to a library. On the Microfinance Gateway link - un-blacklisting is unlikely. Unfortunately people from the organization mass added the link to articles on a number of occasions despite repeated requests not to. But getting individual links whitelisted for references should be doable. -- SiobhanHansa 12:00, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

Cooperative banks and cooperative banking

Thanks for your comprehensive reply at Talk:Cooperative banking. You open my eyes to be able to see things from your point of view, though it will probably take some more debate before we understand each other fully. You are right to say that I would like to participate in developing the article into comprehensive coverage of the sector as a whole. Sadly, it will probably be a few days before I reply fully to your comments, let alone contribute substantial prose (so much for any chance of getting Nong Hyup to 1500 characters for the 5 day Did You Know? deadline. are you interested?)

Thanks again. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 22:04, 7 October 2008 (UTC)

Interesting question for you at Talk:Mutual savings bank#what is the difference between a mutual savings bank and a credit union?. --Hroðulf (or Hrothulf) (Talk) 18:56, 21 October 2008 (UTC)

Microcredit

See reply on my talk page. - Jmabel | Talk 18:45, 12 January 2009 (UTC)

Microfinance

Brett, I've been doing some editing on the microfinance page, both anonymously and now that I've registered with a handle. I've put some comments at the bottom of the talk page regarding some of those edits that you've re-edited or reverted. Looking forward to working with you --Tcnjo (talk) 16:32, 16 March 2009 (UTC)

Financial transaction tax

Hello Brett, if you have time, I invite you to help on the Financial transaction tax article which I created. Events are looking more hopeful than ever before. Thanks.

Boyd Reimer (talk) 21:32, 9 January 2010 (UTC)

Folk etymology: Your input requested

Hi, Brett-- I am looking for people with interests in folklore (editors I’ve encountered on folklore/mythology articles as well as elsewhere) to visit talk:Folk etymology, where there is an ongoing edit dispute. One view (three people) holds that the term is exclusive to linguistics, and another (just me) finds that the term has been formally defined within folklore, and used in academic journals in that sense for more than a century. The page is currently locked. I ask your input not in support of either view, but because discussion seems to have come to a standstill, it seems to be a page few stumble across, and needs fresh viewpoints to get unstuck. Thanks! DavidOaks (talk) 18:02, 15 November 2010 (UTC)

A barnstar for you!

	The Original Barnstar
	Thank you for your work on the micro-credit articles! Information is the key to bridging these vast disparity gaps! RogueShepherds (talk) 17:23, 9 September 2011 (UTC)

World Factoring Yearbook

I'm leaving this message as you're listed as a current participant of WikiProject Business. I was informed yesterday that the current World Factoring Yearbook (circa £150) is now free for download as an ebook. It's a matter of filling out this form. I'm not sure if you'll find this useful as a reliable source, but I thought I should let you know that it's freely available online. I apologise in advance if this doesn't interest you! All the best, The Cavalry (Message me) 14:46, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Ninomiya Sontoku

Header added. —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 22:20, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Copied from Nils Barth: Ninomiya Sontoku. —Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 11:54, 19 November 2012 (UTC)

Hi Nils:

Thank you for your important contribution to credit union history, about Ninomiya Sontoku. As the original author of that page (and sadly deficient in Japanese history) I would love to know more about this man! Are there any books you can recommend, or other resources? I am particularly interested, of course, in learning more about his cooperative finance model.

Brett epic (talk) 21:56, 23 October 2012 (UTC)

Hi Brett,

Thanks for the kind words! I’m no scholar on these matters, but I was able to dig up some books about him, which I’ve put at:

Ninomiya Sontoku: References (as of this edit)

Notably, there are two old books (1912) that you can read online or download, which should get you started.

Other than that, if you have any Japanese colleagues or correspondents involved in development, you can obviously ask them – he’s a folk hero in Japan and everyone knows of him. I don’t know if he’s known in East Asia generally, but Taiwanese (or possibly Korean or Chinese) people in development should be aware of him.

Hope this helps, and thank you for all of your work on Wikipedia and in development!

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 09:20, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

PS, in this edit (and the one before it) I took the liberty of fixing your talk page so it’s not all bold (the welcome message was messing it up). Trust this is ok.

—Nils von Barth (nbarth) (talk) 09:20, 24 October 2012 (UTC)

ArbCom elections are now open!

Hi,
You appear to be eligible to vote in the current Arbitration Committee election. The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to enact binding solutions for disputes between editors, primarily related to serious behavioural issues that the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the ability to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail. If you wish to participate, you are welcome to review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. For the Election committee, MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 16:34, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

ArbCom Elections 2016: Voting now open!

Hello, Brett epic. Voting in the 2016 Arbitration Committee elections is open from Monday, 00:00, 21 November through Sunday, 23:59, 4 December to all unblocked users who have registered an account before Wednesday, 00:00, 28 October 2016 and have made at least 150 mainspace edits before Sunday, 00:00, 1 November 2016.

The Arbitration Committee is the panel of editors responsible for conducting the Wikipedia arbitration process. It has the authority to impose binding solutions to disputes between editors, primarily for serious conduct disputes the community has been unable to resolve. This includes the authority to impose site bans, topic bans, editing restrictions, and other measures needed to maintain our editing environment. The arbitration policy describes the Committee's roles and responsibilities in greater detail.

If you wish to participate in the 2016 election, please review the candidates' statements and submit your choices on the voting page. MediaWiki message delivery (talk) 22:08, 21 November 2016 (UTC)

Still interested in Wikiproject Cooperatives?

Hi Brett, I'm trying to reactivate Wikiproject Cooperatives, which has fallen inactive. You once had yourself listed as an active member, are you still interested in this effort? If not, could you go to the project participant list and mark yourself as inactive? If you are interested, please join us in the project discussion section as we think of how to move the project forward. Thanks! IohannesChicaginiensis (talk) 18:08, 21 August 2022 (UTC)