WordPress MU

So I have an idea for my website. basically I am creating on online swap meet website. I am using iscripts "ESWAP" as the base code for the swap part of the website. What I would like to do is give everyone who creates an account their own user blogs.. They will be like micro blogs, basically focusing on photoblogs, not a lot of written blogs.

So my question is.. do you think it would be possible to pull the username and password from the other script to be automatically generated in the wordpress script?

I would really prefer to have this set up so that they only need one username and password. I dont think it will be hard to integrate their blog posts into the user profiles or anything, i'm sure its pretty easy to pull tidbits of blogs and put them other places on a website.. my MAJOR focus right now is creating a single user database

Do you think Buddy Press would be better suited for this instead of MU?

If you decided to use BuddyPress, you're still using MU, as it is a *plugin* for mu.

possible to share user logins? Probably. You'd either have to write the bridge, hire someone to do it for you or hope soemone's done something similar for "ESWAP"/Wordpress.

Are there any articles out there on working with the user database and writing your own bridges?

I suppose i could take a look at some existing ones and see what they did and go from there. I know some php coding, but i mostly work with shopping carts, not wordress..

Also, what do you think the cost would be to have someone integrate it?

isctips has a social networking script, but its $200 and buddypress does more anyways

If you are looking for simple user integration so there is only one signup/login for both systems expect to pay anywhere from $500-$1k on average.

I have had many bridges built for me in the past by a few different companies so when it comes to prices I'm speaking from a bit of experience. Unless you have a personal relationship with a code firm, beware of any pricing that comes in cheaper than that. I've been down the road of the $100-200 bridge scripts, and they are never as solid and secure as the real companies build.

The reason it's so expensive, is enless you find someone who is completely familiar with both code bases, the coder will end up spending at least a few hours just learning the system. Actual code time is probably less than 10 hours. So even someone as cheap as $50/hr you can see where my numbers come from. Most 'real' coders, enless you know them, run between $100-200/hr

hope it helps.

I understand how pricing works in the web world.. I am a developer, i code mostly e-commerce stores and was just deciding if it was better for me to pay someoen to do this and work on other developements instead of spending all the time doing it myself.

it would be a LOT easier for someone who is at least familiar with wordress MU to learn eswap than for me (who doesnt really know either) to try and learn BOTH and then break it a bunch of times..

So anyways.. do you have any suggestions as to companies who are good at this? Or even individuals?

oh yea.. and are there any good articles outlining the creation of a "generic" bridge? maybe something that just explains the wordpress MU user database.. i MAY be able to do this myself.. HOPEFULLY

http://codex.wordpress.org/WPMU_Database_Description

thanks.. So would i need to work with usermeta and the user table?

Since i dont have an install in there now, i cant see what is contained in there.

I guess the other issue is passing sessions from one side to another so people arent logged out.

Yep, very similar to regular WP tables.

I haven't added what fields are in each table yet. Making sure people stay logged in is a cookie issue.

yea.. I know, i can use a cookie or a session id. I prefer cookies because they are easier.

I just really want to make this work, my biggest concern is eswap.. if its coded properly, it shouldnt be TOO big of a hassle, but if not, it can be a HUGE hassle