I must say that, from my experience as both server staff for several Minecraft servers, and host of several small servers for multiple games, and further as a player on several StarMade servers, that mute and ignore commands are not only highly useful, but also, in my opinion, almost necessary. This is an excellent suggestion and hopefully we will see something like it come to fruition in the future.
Of course, it is up to each individual sever or server staff member how they wish to handle issues, but I personally find that it is best to be as minimally disruptive to the gaming experience for others as possible per each particular situation. Sure, some situations require moving directly to a kick, ban, jail, or something else of of a similarly greater gravity, but some situations are far more easily solved with a milder reprimand such as a mute. If someone is merely being overly loud in the chat, I personally do not wish to disrupt their gaming experience by kicking them if I don't have to.
I find that, in a majority of cases, a mute quite soundly solves such problems, among others, and manages to not unnecessarily upset the individual in question so much as a kick or worse would, often serving to merely get their attention and make them think a bit, without too harshly impeding upon their game-play. Players are often more likely to act out irrationally, and are correspondingly less likely to listen, the greater the degree to which their game-play is disrupted, particularly if they are not intending to be a problem player. My philosophy, personally, is to work with people whenever possible, not against them.
On the note of an ignore command, as others have mentioned, what if there are no staff online, or staff are not acting upon someone that is annoying to a certain player? This is where /ignore or something similar proves its worth. Or, as another example, if I'm playing on a server and someone is acting well within the server rules, but I do not wish to have to see their babble in the chat, I like having the option to ignore them, to filter them out, as I'm sure many players do.
I am certain that there are those that would find such measures unnecessary, and that is great for them, but having this option, as well as the aforementioned mute command for staff, is wonderful, as stated by others, for those that do want these options, and having them can help keep gaming experiences positive for many people in a variety of situations. Those that don't want them need not use them.
But alas, this is all merely my opinion, my proverbial "two cents" on the matter, from the perspective of both a staffer and a player alike. Again, it is up to each individual whether they make use of such commands, such methods of reprimand, or the ability to ignore the chat messages of other players, but I do know that for those of us that typically do, or would, use them, having the option would certainly be much appreciated.
