I know the current software allows one to hide or ignore certain users of your choosing. Is there something similar to hide or ignore certian threads?

If one of the concerns is that OMNI will now have threads that you don't want to see at the top of the list, then ignoring or hiding them from your view should solve that problem.

Doing this probably wouldn't take up too much of anyone's time and it still allows those who want to play games or inflate their post count to do so without bothering you in the process. And it wouldn't require the need of another forum.