Side chat isnt designed for huge conversations - thats what Online Chat is for
But no one actually uses the Online Chat. Most cases of harassment usually can be found on Side Chat, well aside from the Flame Forum, but in real time perspective, Side definitely has it's turn-offs for new players
Just to throw this out there: I still love this idea of being able to mute people you don't want to associate with! Just sayin
This actually would be the easiest solution. People can then decide themselves whether they find a person has accessed the honor of being muted. We have this for our in-game mail, but not so much controlled for side-chat. I find that vulgar topics of side-chat conversations don't last very long, since the actual size of the side-chat only holds about 3-4 lines and about 100 in the history. It's not so bad, but it does get a little nasty, and the muting would help.