ignoring IDE files are best left to the developer since I don't think laravel will be ignoring all of the IDE files that exists.

OS and IDE-specific files should be ignored in a global .gitignore file

Seriously don't get these kind of PR's, which keep coming back for some reason. Here's why it's a bad idea:

• Appending rules for IDE's to the .gitignore file is a slippery slope. There are a lot of IDE's out there; are we going to add them all?
• The .gitignore file should only contain project specific rules. IDE-specific files (and OS files, such as the .DS_Store files) should be ignored in a global .gitignore file, as @jahvi states
• Boilerplate configuration files that come with Laravel, including the .gitignore file should be as clean and simple as possible. Adding stuff because "it's handy" to files that everyone will check out in their projects can have unforeseen consequences.