> So now it is up to the community.
> If you feel someone should be banned, report the post
This is the way forward, but from the rules of engagement:
15- If you come across a post or thread that looks like it's in direct violation of any of our rules, please report it. There is a reporting icon next to every post, and an email will be dispatched to the entire moderator and admin team. This is the best way to fight against spammers or people who are trying to cause trouble. If you just ignore it, it may never go answered.
Also, when you click the report button, it says:
Note: This is ONLY to be used to report spam, advertising messages, and problematic (harassment, fighting, or rude) posts.
So the difficulty with the current reporting system is that is it doesn't really deal with people who are consistently being lazy/incompetent/moronic. The wording actually deters people from reporting these kind of posts.
The other problem is that many people are moronic *some* of the time, but otherwise may have some good questions, information or service (I put myself into this category). Some people might not even realise they're being moronic.
My suggestion is to install one of the existing AWARD systems such as this:
Yet Another Awards System - vBulletin.org Forum
Change the graphic to something bad instead of a star. Then we can report people for being idiots, and if the mods agree they can increase the 'award' by one 'star', which is shown in the users info-block.
If I see someone has four 'stars' already and makes another stupid post, I'd probably report it rather than posting an answer and saying 'please use search next time'. Mods could probably prune the forum using that flag too - at the end of each month just delete all those who reached five 'stars'.
My .02