This is true, but I would still like to leverage my follows' judgement in this case. Without it being used to create my own list that lives on a relay, it would have to be something handled client-side that filters out posts from users who are often muted and/or reported by my follows.

I feel like how nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn has implemented web-of-trust filters that takes muting and reporting from my follows into account is a decent approach. I can then make it as aggressive or as lenient as I want it to be for filtering posts, and yet it isn't requiring me to add anyone to my mute list to achieve this.