I am new here, but I must say this feature is fantastic!
I came up with this idea and mentioned it is several other forums and nobody got it.
Here is why its great: If some troll is trolling you and talking crap, usually all you can do is block him. The problem with that is, he still trolls you and still talks crap, but now you cannot rebut his crap because you cannot see it. LOL. What friggin' good is that!
Now, my idea was the opposite: YOU being able to block someone from seeing YOU. The forum that invents that will be awesome.
This thread ban thing is the next best thing to my idea. If you have identified total a-hole trolls (and I already have on my first day here I might add) then you can keep them out of your thread. I like that.
Well done.