Featured Image buried

The “featured image” idea is a good one, but in practice, the image doesn’t really end up being featured. Let me explain:

• The image doesn’t show up on the front page when the post is brand new (I’m not saying it should)
• If you don’t put a <!--more--> link in, there’s little or no incentive for the reader to go look at the page that does show the featured image
• If you do add a <!--more--> link, following it takes you to the position on the page where the rest of the article starts…and where the featured image is scrolled off the screen!

The end result is that the “featured image” is far less prominent than any image in the body that appears near the beginning of a post. Is there anything we can do about this?

Thanks