WP site development (few questions)

Hello all – Looking for a little support/advice with my WordPress site.

It’s all going very well so far, I’m delighted with WordPress and would urge anyone reading this to use it for blogging, if they havent already done so. I have a few queries though, which I’d like some advice on please…

The website is http://www.xbox360wire.co.uk (yes, another gaming blog I hear you cry!).

My issues are relating to user-icons, post thumbs and embedding videos from Gametrailers.com.

user-icons.

At the moment, I’m using a 1×1 transparent gif to remove these. However, once activated i’d really like for all individual contributors to have their very own icon. Is this possible?

post-thumbs
Although inserting images into posts is not a problem for me, getting them to appear on the front page is. They just don’t seem to appear, even when at the start of a post. I gather this is by design though. I’d like to be able to post thumbs next to new posts on the title page, as it’s looking a little bare at the moment.

Gametrailers videos
After much searching on the interweb, I found that the only way to do this is to disable the rich-text editor then insert the embed code to the post from there. It works for me, however my fellow contributors are still unable to do this. I’m told by a fickle friend “Unfortunately still no joy on the embedded video front for me, its still stripping it out whenever I enter it, even without the visual editor. I wish I could show you what it does, i’m sure you all think i’m mad by now :)”
Can anyone advise on this? If it helps, I’ve disabled the option to force everyone to use the rich editor.

I do apologise in advance for all the questions, I thought it better to put them in 1 post rather than spread over 3.

Thanks for any advice you can provide!!

Chris