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"