One thing that was changed recently to another forum that uses a similar format (Macrumors.com), was an indicator that says if the reply that is posted was made by the same poster that created the thread. In other words, if you post a reply in a thread that you created it puts a title in green above your description(Junior Member/Earning my WDWMAGIC ears) that say "Thread Starter", this makes it much easier to follow the a thread that is several pages long, especially if it is answering a question that a forum member has.
