Im not too big on the idea of badges. The whole thing just seems reaaaaaaal dumb. Too much competition in trying to level up their e-peen, and may increase the amount of bullshit clouding up the threads by people trying to hard to earn them and not fact checking. Thus causing more eyestabbing and brain cell loss on everyone's part.
I'm not entirely sure if you can do it on vbulletin, but I know you can make, for lack of a better term coming to me right now, administrative groups(ie: admin> supermod> mod> average joe) with different forum privilages. Why not create a postion between mod and average joe for each section(ideally, im not sure if theres a limit to how many can be created and if need be could be over simplified to just bb/ gg groups) and have some users that excel in character knowledge and/or are good area contributors(videos/ translations/frame data wizards etc). These people can be seen as a go-to for information about that character as well as working alongside the mods(no ban/infraction/edit/delete privilages.) with maintaining their area. Maybe have a section only their postion and higher can see so that they can point out specific posts that need attention for any mod online to handle.
I apologize if that came off confusing. Its the end of my day, and Im not the best with words right now. Ill clarify more when I wake up if need be.
tl;dr: increase the chain of command, work together as a team to ensure better posting, and newbies will respect the higher postion.