Maybe I am just on an extended vacation. Anyhow, I wouldn't use the feature. Just because I ignore someone that doesn't mean I mind that person still reading my posts. After all they just express more interest in me than I do in them. Not to mention one can circumvent blocking by logging out and reading ET that way. So to me blocking is more like shadow banning on reddit, it might cut down on noise but once discovered, it can be avoided.
There are actually two methods of ignoring people (or being ignored). The first is imply to click on the person's user card and click "ignore". This makes it so you cannot see their posts, but they can still see yours. So essentially they can follow you around and comment after you all over the place, and you have no idea it is happening (unless you browse the forum overview page, in which case you will see "Ignored poster" as the last poster). The other, more effective way, is the "Super Ignore" feature. To activate this, you go to your ignore list and manually add the individual into the list. Then you click the box that says "block the above member totally". This makes it so you vanish from their screens and they vanish from yours. Completely removal of each other from the screen - and most effective. You will still see "ignored poster" if you are browsing the forums from the main screen, but that's it. All your threads vanish from their view and theirs from yours. This is the preferred way of doing it.