Guidance for first project - customize Post New Thread page

[PJRC]

I'd like make a modification to the Post New Thread page. I have zero experience with forum editing, but I do have conventional programming experience (C, C++, Perl, etc). I'm hoping someone can point me to any tutorials or offer any advice to help get me started?

My forum is about electronic projects. The problem I'm trying to solve is a tendancy for brand new users to post quick questions lacking tech details and context. I've got guidelines as sticky threads, and forum rules when they sign up, but many new users don't read them.

I'm hoping to add a "checklist" of posting guidelines right before the "Submit New Thread" button. The submit button should be disabled by default. Each guideline should have a check box. When all the boxes are clicked, the submit button becomes enabled. The goal is only a very minor speed bump before posting.

The number of guidelines and text of each needs to be different on each of the forums.

Please forgive me if this is an incredibly noob question or one that's been asked many times before. I have plenty of experiene with HTML, PHP and other languages, but zero experience with vBulletin customization. I have SSH access to my server, and I'm familiar with unix.

Just a quick pointer to the relevant documentation and any tips or pointer about gotchas I might face would really be appreciated.