Wikimedia Bugzilla is closed!

I propose adding a dedicated textarea editing block for pages that contain references defined in a <references>...</references> block. This assumes that one of the proposals at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Citing_sources gets up and is implemented.

How it works: Assume the following article:
----
Some text. <ref name="foo" />More text. <ref name="boo />www.boo.com</ref>And so on.

<references>
<ref name="foo">www.foo.org</ref>
</references>

[[Category:Blah]]
----

When you edit this article (including section edits), the main text area would show this:
----
Some text. <ref name="foo" />More text. <ref name="boo />www.boo.com</ref>And so on.

<references>
<!-- Edit the references block in the other editing box. Leave this references block here. -->
</references>
[[Category:Blah]]
----

The second textarea box shows this:
----
<ref name="foo">www.foo.org</ref>
----

Upon saving, the content of the two are recombined as expected.

I know this is somewhat premature, but I'm proposing it to find out:
1) Is this possible? Can it be done within the Cite extension, or does it have to be part of the main MediaWiki code, checking for the existence of Cite?
2) Does it have use for other types of content? Categories? Templates?
3) What parts of the behaviour must be specified further? For example, what happens if the user deletes the original references block - does it get added at the end?

Justification:
One of the biggest problems with references is there are two options:
1) Define the text of the reference inline. Quickly creates unreadable wikitext.
2) Define the text separately. Can be tedious leaping back and forth from content to reference, and doesn't work well with section editing. Sometimes orphaned references get made.

The goal is to improve the usability of 2). In the context of Wikipedia, this will improve the use of references, which is (iirc) a foundation-stated goal.

The secondary goal is to make some steps towards a richer GUI. Babysteps away from the very basic "you type in a box" mode, if you will.

[If this is not strictly within the scope of the Cite extension, please move it.]