Board Thread:Support Requests - Community Management/@comment-5578690-20130802192724/@comment-5691231-20130802233651

I'd usually only go for an infinite block if it's for general spam or major vandalism.

But even with that I would probably uncheck "Prevent logged-in users from editing from this IP address", because as we know IP's change every so often. A potentially good editor may be blocked from editing due to the autoblock.

The block options are mainly the communities choice, as some are more strict with rules than others. But it can also depend on the admin dealing with the user.

If there is a user making disruptive edits one after another, and their username in addition is inappropriate, an infinite block would be justified.

But it really depends--you could always just block a vandal for 2 weeks to 1 month and see if they learn any lessons from that block. If not you could go with longer bans (3 months to indefinite)

My suggestion for disruptive users/vandals would be (in order):
 * 2 weeks
 * 3 months
 * indefinite

But if you feel the user isn't helping the wiki at all, and their only purpose is to harm the wiki--an indefinite block could be ruled out. (never block IP addresses for infinite though...)