It would be handy to see who the creator of the thread is when they reply to their thread. Perhaps changing their username colour or text attributes in their posts, or a slight background difference in the post body. When following through threads, it is sometimes difficult to remember who is replying, and who is the one asking the question.
I do understand what star.ruby wants to say and this seem to be a good idea. Just when the OP posts new replies in the thread, he gets a different background color -- slightly though. That makes it easier to find out if you're talking to the OP or not in some threads.
Yeah, it's a good idea, but the number of times you'll see where people don't even read them (sometimes not even the first post) and post a generic reply based upon the title (or one of the words in it). Anyone who cares to know who the OP is probably will, as they'll have read not just the post title. Although we're not getting younger, so it might be useful as the Alzheimer's starts to kick in.