The Block feature has been removed. You are no longer able to block someone in your profile under "People You Ignore"; the only option provided is to ignore them. The list of people under "People You Ignore" now includes people you have ignored or blocked (previously) and people who have blocked you (previously). You can now select "Stop ignoring" to have posts from these people show up in your forum threads. Note that threads started by people you ignore will still not show up in the list of threads when you visit topic page. They still will show up on the ET homepage if the thread of an ignored individual is in the five most recent threads with posts. When you visit a thread that has the most recent post by a person you ignore -- there will be a tag "You are ignoring content from this member. Show ignored Content". Select on "Show ignored Content" to see that members content on the page of the thread. This will allow you to see and understand the context of the entire recent conversation (on a temporary basis while still leaving the poster ignored). The Blocked feature is a use case generally outside the normal use cases for forum software such as XenForo. It is a customization which is difficult to expand and maintain. Baron recently mentioned in another post that development work for a major upgrade has been completed and he will be rolling it out between now and September 21st. Dark mode and other enhancements will be part of this upgrade.
I still think Block is an effective feature and is needed for a functioning forum. If I don't want to have anything to do with somebody, I don't want that person to know what I am doing or posting. On any social media like twitter, FB and etc., if you block someone, it's not that you don't see what that person is posting but that person is not able to see you or know what you are posting either. It should be the same on ET here. The only thing is the "Block" feature shouldn't be dependent on "Ignore". You shouldn't have to ignore someone before blocking that person. Block should be a completely separate feature from "Ignore" and one step up from "Ignore". If you put somebody on "Ignore", that person can still see your post but you just can't see that ignored person's posts but if you block that person, that person can't see your posts at all nor can you see that person's posts. That's how all the social media sites work and I don't see why it cannot be implemented in ET the same way. If it adds inconvenience to the person who's blocked that it makes them have to log off to read posts in order to follow a thread, well tough, that's the whole point. If you can't handle being respectful and post in a constructive manner then you don't get to read other people' posts only for you to trash. And if everybody is blocking you and you can't see anything when you are logged on, well then that's a problem with you not with the block feature. Taking away the "Block" feature is like taking away the lock on your front door because it's a hassle for the thieves having to make an effort to break in. LOL With this "Block" feature removed, it would be lot harder to keep the forum respectable with constructive conversation, that's my concern.