The vBulletin User Infraction system is designed to automate the management of “misbehaving” users.
The first step in setting up your user infraction system is to create infraction levels. These levels vary based on the content of the site and the scale of the system that you want to create. You can create just a few levels or set up many levels covering a myriad of infractions.
When creating levels, keep in mind the point total at which you want to start penalizing users by taking away permissions. If you envision taking away a certain permission when a user accumulates 10 infraction points, then you need to consider how many points should be given for each infraction and how quickly the user can get to 10 points.
Each infraction level has an expiration time. When the infraction expires, the associated points are removed from the user's point total and the user's infraction groups are recalculated.
Infraction levels can also be allowed to be given as warnings. A warning does not add any infraction points to the user's point total. Warnings serve as a method to remind users of your site's rules and encourage them to be followed without awarding infraction points. Moderators can give an infraction or a warning for those levels that have the warning ability enabled.
When an infraction is given, a message is sent by the moderator to the receiving user that explains why the infraction is being given. This message uses the Private Messaging System if it is enabled. Otherwise, if your site has email enabled, an email is sent. At the same time, a new thread for discussion of the infraction is created in a predetermined channel. This channel is set up in the Settings > Options > User Infractions & Post Reporting Options section. For more information, read the User Infractions & Post Reporting Options article.
The second step in setting up the system is to create infraction groups that penalize users in whatever way you define.
Normal permissions work by combining all of a user's usergroup permissions and granting a permission for any that are set to ‘Yes’. Infraction group permissions work in the reverse: the permissions are combined and any permission set to ‘No’ is taken away from the user.
When you set up your infraction usergroups (in the Usergroup Manager), set all permissions to ‘Yes’, and then change those that need to be removed in case of an infraction to ‘No’.
Any permissions set to ‘No’ affects all channels. If you want to penalize a user only in certain channels, set all permissions to ‘Yes’ and then set up custom permissions at Usergroups > Channel Permissions for the channel in question using the Infraction Group. For more information on channel permissions, read the Channel Permissions article.
A user can be in multiple infraction groups: they will be assigned to all groups that apply to their primary usergroup ID that have a point total less than or equal to their accumulated points.
Navigate to User Infractions > User Infraction Manager to view current Infraction Levels and Infraction Groups. If you don’t have any set up, you can add them from this screen.
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To add a new level, navigate to User Infractions > Add New User Infraction Level. For more information, see the Modifying User Infraction Levels article.
To add a new group, navigate to User Infractions > Add New User Infraction Group. For more information, see the Modifying User Infraction Levels article.