re: Admins.... Something needs to be done

Your opening post should have just been: "Can we start enforcing a policy to stop people from baiting everyone in a thread for a response until they get one."

Then you could propose a 4-post rule, where if nobody responds after 4 posts to different people, then you have to leave a thread or get an admin warning. It's all sort of silly though, seeing as how everyone just posts in IM threads for superficial attention in the first place.