The XenForo platform offers ways to handle problem users beyond just banning them. When someone causes trouble, they can simply make new accounts because browsers let people register again easily. The staff can apply special settings to these accounts instead. This method makes the site hard for troublemakers to use.
These XenForo settings create frustrating experiences for targeted accounts. Pages might fail to load, blank screens may appear, or everything runs extremely slowly for them. The person never learns about these applied restrictions. Admins can adjust these clever tricks through the control panel under options for user discipline.
Anyone running a XenForo community can activate this feature by editing user profiles. When...
You can kick people off your site when they break the rules really badly. The system lets you block them for a short time or forever. Anyone you ban sees an error message everywhere they go on your forum. The message tells them why they can't use the site and when they might come back. Look under Users and then User discipline to find these controls.
Banned members disappear from your site in many ways. They don't count in your total member numbers. Nobody finds them in member lists or searches. Regular people can't see banned profiles - only admins can look at those pages. The system doesn't automatically show others who got banned. You might want to make a special group just for banned people if you want everyone to know who received...
Warning points can keep troublemakers in check. This system lets your helpers flag bad behavior. When someone breaks the rules, mods mark the content directly or add warnings through profiles. These warnings add points that track how much trouble a member causes.
Mods click "Warn" on bad posts or visit profiles to add warnings. They might leave public notes on posts to show others what went wrong. Your helpers can see every warning a person got by checking their profile page. The screen shows current point totals plus all past warnings, even expired ones.
You set up warning types ahead of time for your team to use. Each warning needs a name, point value, and expiration time. You pick which groups warned users join temporarily and how...
You can set up a system that changes what appears under each member's name as they become more active. These labels show up next to everything they post and on their profile page. You pick whether the system counts their posts, the likes they receive, or their trophy score to decide which title they've earned. The titles automatically change as members hit higher numbers.
Members with special titles from their profiles or user groups keep those instead of ladder titles. The system looks for special titles first, then uses ladder titles if it finds nothing else. Your ladder works by giving each member the highest title they qualify for based on their numbers. Someone with 80 messages would receive the title you created for the...
Your forum comes alive when members earn trophies. This fun game-like feature rewards people for meeting goals you create. You decide how many points each trophy gives. The system tracks who has the most points and shows these star members on a special list.
Members earn trophies automatically when they meet your rules. These awards stick around forever, even if someone stops qualifying later. The system never takes back a trophy once it gives one out. If you delete any trophy completely, the system will subtract those points from everyone who had it.
You can set different challenges for earning each trophy. Each one rewards members with points when they hit certain milestones or do specific things. The computer watches what everyone...
Profile banners let members add custom background images to their public profiles. You can turn this into a paid feature by taking it away from regular members and selling it back to them. Start by changing the Registered group settings. Go to Groups & permissions, click on User groups, select Registered, and change Upload a profile banner to No. Save these changes, and nobody can use profile banners anymore.
You need a special group for people who pay for banners. Create a new group called Has profile banners. Find Groups and permissions, click User groups, choose Add user group, and type the name. In the permission chart, Set Upload a profile banner to Yes. Save everything when you finish. This creates your special group with banner...
You can make money from your XenForo site with a premium content area. First, create a new group called Subscribers. Then, set up a new forum named Premium Content. Make this forum private by checking that box in its permission settings. Head over to the Subscribers group and turn on the View node permission for them.
The private setting blocks everyone except those with special permission. Members need the View node permission to see anything in there. They automatically inherit other abilities like posting from their regular group settings. You must also give your admins and moderators access, or they will be locked out just like regular users.
Next comes the payment part. If you haven't already, set up a payment profile. Create a...
XenForo offers user upgrades as a way to earn money from your site. Members pay for better access or extra features through this system. When someone buys an upgrade, the system puts them into special user groups, which have more permissions than regular members.
If any feature or content uses the permission system, you can tie it to these upgrades. Setting up requires two main steps. First, create a payment profile under the Setup menu. This tells XenForo how to handle the money side of things.
After you have the payment profiles ready, you can make the actual upgrades. You decide the price, the length of the upgrade, and whether it renews automatically. Members find these options under Account upgrades in their menu when they want...
XenForo allows administrators to collect extra information from members through custom user fields. These values appear in messages or profiles, serve as internal data, or modify XenForo behaviors via template changes. Administrators can display this information anywhere they want or use it behind the scenes for site functionality. Setting up these fields requires several decisions about how users will interact with them.
Every custom user field needs an ID containing only alphanumeric characters. This ID cannot change after creation because the system references it internally. Administrators must know these IDs when implementing advanced features with custom fields. The system offers numerous configuration options regarding who can...
