You would be surprised how many times a new player enters the arena, using an old ID from someone else, and then calls/emails me complaining about being treated like a scum bag. It is the leading reason why so many people complain about the community being unfriendly.
IIRC Back in the day when you canceled your account that name was locked, and if you wanted it you would have to call and request it. It seems like that was the right way to go about preventing that, and also save strife when someone goes on a break and comes back to find their name is taken.
Before you just dismiss the idea of permasquelch off hand please take a minute of your time to answer some questions.
1. Is this wish feasible from a coding standpoint? Given the amount of awesome you guys put out I'm thinking yes, but then I began to wonder when I remembered that if you squelch a player all they have to do is log out then back in to be unsquelched(which is an annoyance all it's own).
2. If the answer to #1 is yes, do you keep chat logs?
3. If the answer to #2 is yes, please go check the logs of a wonderful fellow named vDALLAS and come back here and tell me we don't have a need for permasquelch. I don't like to name names but that is just to give you an idea here, there are many others like him and they are usually guys that have been around for years and are never going to change. Some of them are PMers, others are constant whiners and AH conspiracy theorists, and some of them just seem mentally unstable.
I understand that some times folks are on tilt, or have had too much to drink and that's cool. The usual squelch function is fine the way it is in those cases. Ideally all I want is a file that the game references on login for the usual suspects. It doesn't effect game play in any way shape or form, and as far as the social dynamic of the arenas is concerned it would help not hurt.