For anyone stumbling across this - setting the view to 'List mode', opening 'Show view options' and toggling any of the options in 'Show Columns' will always create a .DS_Store file in the folder you are changing.
If you find this is not happening on shares, it's worth opening ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.desktopservices.plist
(Use cmd+shift+G or the terminal to get to your Library, since it was be hidden in the regular Finder) and checking the value of 'DSSontWriteNetworkStores' it should be 'False' if you'd like .DS_Stores to be created.