diff --git a/docs/help/in/ignore.in b/docs/help/in/ignore.in
index 26c269a4..fbb23fe4 100644
--- a/docs/help/in/ignore.in
+++ b/docs/help/in/ignore.in
@@ -40,6 +40,19 @@ Some suggestions for ignoring annoying public aways:
     /IGNORE *afk* NICKS
     /IGNORE *away* NICKS
 
+The special level "NO_ACT" can be used to ignore activity ("Act:") but not
+actually ignore the message entirely. It is somewhat special because it is
+allowed in addition to another ignore for the same target.
+
+Examples:
+
+  /IGNORE #channel NO_ACT JOINS PARTS QUITS - hide joins, etc from activity
+  /IGNORE nick NO_ACT -MSGS - ignore activity from nick, except for /MSG
+  /IGNORE -regexp -pattern . -except nick NO_ACT HILIGHT
+    - combined with the ignore above show hilights from this nick (needs to be
+      an except as "PUBLIC HILIGHT" still matches public, the regexp is used to
+      have more than one ignore for "nick").
+
 For regular expressions, see `man 7 regex`.
 
 See also: UNIGNORE, SILENCE, ACCEPT
diff --git a/src/core/ignore.c b/src/core/ignore.c
index a7aa106f..63b8f279 100644
--- a/src/core/ignore.c
+++ b/src/core/ignore.c
@@ -104,8 +104,15 @@ static int ignore_match_pattern(IGNORE_REC *rec, const char *text)
 		stristr(text, rec->pattern) != NULL;
 }
 
+/* MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT is special in ignores, when provided to ignore_check() it's
+ * used as a flag to indicate it should only look at ignore items with NO_ACT.
+ * However we also want to allow NO_ACT combined with levels, so mask it out and
+ * match levels if set. */
 #define ignore_match_level(rec, level) \
-        ((level & (rec)->level) != 0)
+        (((level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) != 0) ? \
+         ((~MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT & level) & (rec)->level) != 0 : \
+         ((rec)->level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT ? 0 : \
+         (level & (rec)->level) != 0))
 
 #define ignore_match_nickmask(rec, nick, nickmask) \
 	((rec)->mask == NULL || \
@@ -180,7 +187,14 @@ int ignore_check(SERVER_REC *server, const char *nick, const char *host,
 }
 
 IGNORE_REC *ignore_find(const char *servertag, const char *mask,
-			char **channels)
+		char **channels)
+{
+	return ignore_find_noact(servertag, mask, channels, 0);
+}
+
+
+IGNORE_REC *ignore_find_noact(const char *servertag, const char *mask,
+		char **channels, int noact)
 {
 	GSList *tmp;
 	char **chan;
@@ -202,6 +216,12 @@ IGNORE_REC *ignore_find(const char *servertag, const char *mask,
 				continue;
 		}
 
+		if (noact && (rec->level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) == 0)
+			continue;
+
+		if (!noact && (rec->level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) != 0)
+			continue;
+
 		if ((rec->mask == NULL && mask != NULL) ||
 		    (rec->mask != NULL && mask == NULL)) continue;
 
diff --git a/src/core/ignore.h b/src/core/ignore.h
index 4abfaca5..46025d4c 100644
--- a/src/core/ignore.h
+++ b/src/core/ignore.h
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@ int ignore_check(SERVER_REC *server, const char *nick, const char *host,
 		 const char *channel, const char *text, int level);
 
 IGNORE_REC *ignore_find(const char *servertag, const char *mask, char **channels);
+IGNORE_REC *ignore_find_noact(const char *servertag, const char *mask, char **channels, int noact);
 
 void ignore_add_rec(IGNORE_REC *rec);
 void ignore_update_rec(IGNORE_REC *rec);
diff --git a/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c b/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
index 7c23ad94..3b57f5f3 100644
--- a/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
+++ b/src/fe-common/core/fe-ignore.c
@@ -118,7 +118,7 @@ static void cmd_ignore(const char *data)
 	char *patternarg, *chanarg, *mask, *levels, *timestr, *servertag;
 	char **channels;
 	void *free_arg;
-	int new_ignore, msecs;
+	int new_ignore, msecs, level;
 
 	if (*data == '\0') {
 		cmd_ignore_show();
@@ -138,6 +138,7 @@ static void cmd_ignore(const char *data)
 	
 	if (*mask == '\0') cmd_param_error(CMDERR_NOT_ENOUGH_PARAMS);
         if (*levels == '\0') levels = "ALL";
+	level = level2bits(levels, NULL);
 
 	msecs = 0;
 	timestr = g_hash_table_lookup(optlist, "time");
@@ -154,7 +155,8 @@ static void cmd_ignore(const char *data)
 	channels = (chanarg == NULL || *chanarg == '\0') ? NULL :
 		g_strsplit(chanarg, ",", -1);
 
-	rec = patternarg != NULL ? NULL: ignore_find(servertag, mask, channels);
+	rec = patternarg != NULL ? NULL: ignore_find_noact(servertag, mask, channels,
+			(level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT));
 	new_ignore = rec == NULL;
 
 	if (rec == NULL) {
@@ -170,6 +172,12 @@ static void cmd_ignore(const char *data)
 
 	rec->level = combine_level(rec->level, levels);
 
+	if (rec->level == MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) {
+		/* If only NO_ACT was specified add all levels; it makes no
+		 * sense on its own. */
+		rec->level |= MSGLEVEL_ALL;
+	}
+
 	if (new_ignore && rec->level == 0) {
 		/* tried to unignore levels from nonexisting ignore */
 		printformat(NULL, NULL, MSGLEVEL_CLIENTNOTICE,
@@ -226,7 +234,10 @@ static void cmd_unignore(const char *data)
 			chans[0] = mask;
 			mask = NULL;
 		}
-		rec = ignore_find("*", mask, (char **) chans);
+		rec = ignore_find_noact("*", mask, (char **) chans, 0);
+		if (rec == NULL) {
+			rec = ignore_find_noact("*", mask, (char **) chans, 1);
+		}
 	}
 
 	if (rec != NULL) {
diff --git a/src/fe-common/core/fe-messages.c b/src/fe-common/core/fe-messages.c
index 367863c7..67c95745 100644
--- a/src/fe-common/core/fe-messages.c
+++ b/src/fe-common/core/fe-messages.c
@@ -190,7 +190,7 @@ static void sig_message_public(SERVER_REC *server, const char *msg,
 	if (for_me)
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_HILIGHT;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, target, msg, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, target, msg, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	if (settings_get_bool("emphasis"))
@@ -238,13 +238,17 @@ static void sig_message_private(SERVER_REC *server, const char *msg,
 {
 	QUERY_REC *query;
         char *freemsg = NULL;
+	int level = MSGLEVEL_MSGS;
 
 	query = query_find(server, nick);
 
 	if (settings_get_bool("emphasis"))
 		msg = freemsg = expand_emphasis((WI_ITEM_REC *) query, msg);
 
-	printformat(server, nick, MSGLEVEL_MSGS,
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, NULL, msg, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
+
+	printformat(server, nick, level,
 		    query == NULL ? TXT_MSG_PRIVATE :
 		    TXT_MSG_PRIVATE_QUERY, nick, address, msg);
 
@@ -330,7 +334,7 @@ static void sig_message_join(SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 {
 	int level = MSGLEVEL_JOINS;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, NULL, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, NULL, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	printformat(server, channel, level,
@@ -343,7 +347,7 @@ static void sig_message_part(SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 {
 	int level = MSGLEVEL_PARTS;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, NULL, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, NULL, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	printformat(server, channel, level,
@@ -362,7 +366,7 @@ static void sig_message_quit(SERVER_REC *server, const char *nick,
 	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, NULL, reason, MSGLEVEL_QUITS))
 		return;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, NULL, reason, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, NULL, reason, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	print_channel = NULL;
@@ -432,7 +436,7 @@ static void sig_message_kick(SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 {
 	int level = MSGLEVEL_KICKS;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, kicker, address, channel, reason, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, kicker, address, channel, reason, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	printformat(server, channel, level,
@@ -453,7 +457,7 @@ static void print_nick_change_channel(SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 	level = MSGLEVEL_NICKS;
         if (ownnick) level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
-	if (!(level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) && ignore_check(server, oldnick, address, channel, newnick, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (!(level & MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT) && ignore_check(server, oldnick, address, channel, newnick, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	printformat(server, channel, level,
@@ -532,7 +536,7 @@ static void sig_message_topic(SERVER_REC *server, const char *channel,
 {
 	int level = MSGLEVEL_TOPICS;
 
-	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, topic, MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
+	if (ignore_check(server, nick, address, channel, topic, level | MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT))
 		level |= MSGLEVEL_NO_ACT;
 
 	printformat(server, channel, level,