lol, you don't have to suck up to us like that. The icons of the user posting a comment are shown by default. Let me just clarify: You want the user of the initial comment to have their account picture shown as well as (or instead of) their icon?
This would need to be done by way of an extension.
hey, fysicsluvr, I mean what I said, no cheap flattering here. no, the account picture would be on the front page where all discussions are, one per discussion
each user has a picture and an icon; the picture is only shown on their account page, the icon on every post. You want the icon of the 'discussion starter' to be shown in the list of discussions?
I don't have the skills to do this, just trying to refine your ideas, should someone decide to make an extension.