I liked the old system better. While I think muting people is a great addition, I do not like that it is the primary form of moderation. This way allows users to act like fools and simply be silenced by particular individuals; this seems good at first, but if the feature is used often, it will narrow the amount of posts seen on the forum for an individual who pnly wants to see thought-provoking content. On the other hand, the old moderation system instilled a sense of "fear," and forced members of the forums to post quality threads and comment responsibly. This resulted in there being an abundance of decent content because most members would rather have the privilege to post than be banned.