Not sure this is the right place for this, but would it be possible to have a tag next to the original poster (OP) in the thread they've started. On some other forums I belong to that I believe use the same format/viewer they have the letters OP in red to the right of the persons name everywhere that person posts in that thread. Sometimes these theads get kinda long (and sometimes with many segways) and its easy to lose track of who was the OP.
Just a thought.