Hi. I'm John. Thank you for your kind attention.
According to
www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Jobs, job openings may be
announced here at mediawiki-l. Hopefully that's true, and not a
breach of etiquette. Here goes.
I have almost no programming skills, but for a hobby--no business or
nonprofit purpose--I have been teaching myself PHP and other languages
by studying MediaWiki code. In the process, I have started to get
ideas about a non-commercial / hobbyist use for a wiki, for which some
users would be "Topic Editors" of specific articles (the title would
entail no special rights or powers; just bragging rights).
This leads me to ask you if the following four things are possible
with MediaWiki; and please give me a price breakdown if you want to
find the appropriate extension or write the code, plus give a week of
phone support, to make them happen. If you are interested, you may
reply to my e-mail address, to let me know.
So far I have a single price quote from a MediaWiki developer who
advertises online. Another quote will supposedly be in my hands on
Wednesday. Just to give you a sense of my timeframe.
Well, here are the four things. Again, these are all about "Topic
Editors"...and once again, the "Topic Editor" title would entail no
special rights or powers...
-- John
--- 1 ---
Customize the MediaWiki account creation mechanism so it notifies the
sysop of each new user's full account information, when he/she signs
up for the first time (sysop approval is needed, based on how the new
user answers a few essay questions). Admittedly, this seems so basic
that I suspect the ConfirmAccount extension can already accomplish it.
Almost. But I don't know for sure.
--- 2 ---
Add new fields to the MediaWiki account creation process, including
"first name", "last name", and maybe two or three others where new
users can type their answers to essay questions.
EXAMPLE: "First name: --- Last name: --- Username: --- Password: ---
What new Topic(s)—if any—do you wish to create, and why? --- What
existing Topic(s)—if any—do you wish to modify or be a Topic Editor
for, and why?" et cetera.
Also, automatically display the first name and last name on each user page.
--- 3 ---
Put a button on every MediaWiki article page, that opens a form to
send a private message to the sysop.
EXAMPLE: "Apply to be the new Topic Editor for this Topic" button
The resulting form will ask users an essay question, by which they can
apply to be the "Topic Editor" for the article page. Alternatively,
it will notify guests that they must either sign in or create an
account first. This button can and should exist even on pages that
already have a "Topic Editor".
--- 4 ---
Give the sysop ability to enter unique text on certain article pages,
but not others (not in the article itself; just on the page).
EXAMPLE: "Topic Editor: John Doe" or, by default, "Topic Editor:
None"