Verbal abuse report is irritating and worthless

As I find myself going on tilt and having bad games primarily because of the stuff said in chat, I've begun using /mute all as soon as I'm in game. I play much better and have a lot more fun this way. Also, because no one is flaming me, I don't flame anyone else. I stay pretty much silent throughout the game, maybe typing an occasional, "drag now" or something similar.

Despite this, I still get a popup saying I've been reported for verbal abuse maybe every 1 in 5 games.

I want to break down real quick why this is such a bad reporting option.

1. What constitutes verbal abuse is entire up to the discretion of the player. It's not like verbal abuse is a well-defined category. Because it's up to player discretion, saying something as innocuous as "Please don't go extend so far in mid by yourself without a ward, they'll just keep killing you," is grounds for a report in some player's eyes. I know it is, because I've said that (those words), and gotten the response, "Fuck you, reported 4 verbal abuse." Obviously (hopefully) people with such thin skins are actually trolls. This type of behavior leads to the counter-report, where because you get a popup for verbal abuse, you report the person you think reported you. This also helps no one.

2. It is a direct mechanism to fuck with another player. Players use this as their go-to report because the report isn't reviewed. It is the only available mechanism Riot gives for players to directly fuck with another player's client. It is literally a button that causes a nagging, chastising message to appear in an opponent's client, and forces them to acknowledge it. The closest alternative you can do is a friend request, but that doesn't force you to acknowledge it before you can move on.

3. It does not have the desired effect. It may have a positive effect the first or second time some players see it, but after that it is an annoyance. Because of the previously stated reasons, the assumption upon seeing it after the novelty has worn off is not "I messed up"; rather, it's more like, "wow, someone in that game is a dick." Instead of making one think about how they should not yell at other players, it just puts people in a bad mood. This isn't even a bad thing- as you can be reported without even having said anything in chat, you have the right to be pissed when you get that popup.

4. A solution already exists. League already provides players with the ability to easily selectively or collectively mute other players. When you get right down to it, rather than playing the tattle-tale and running to mommy Riot, players need to learn not to engage. If you truly are the victim of verbal abuse, you need to have the cognizance to simply mute the player who's going off on you. There really is nothing wrong with that. Like I said at the beginning of this post, I use mute /all at the beginning of most games. If I get even a whiff of conflict in the pregame chat, or if in the game people begin arguing and cussing at each other, I just go to town on that mute button. Doing this makes the games so much more fun and I play much better.

So there you have it. The verbal abuse report feature has become a tool for trolls and people who are blindly raging. It doesn't solve anything, and can ruin the mood of perfectly polite players. Let's get rid of it.