I'm just now learning how to modify my forum, and I'm not very good at "code", so please be patient with my newbie questions:

Member Levels - In a post, beneath your title but above your avatar pic, your post level is represented by a star (at least, on mine it is). I've seen some forums where this is an icon, and I thought that looked really neat. New members had a tiny Stimpy icon, and as you post more and advance farther on the forum, your icon gets gradually cooler looking. Just like the stars, but better. These were very tiny icons, no bigger than the smiley faces in a post.
Any MODS for this, or any idea how this is done?
One more thing - I recently upgraded to the newest SNITZ forum, but I think I might have missed something. It's still showing the "TOPIC SMILEYS" along the top when creating a topic, but it's just a blank space after the topic has been posted (though previous topics prior to upgrading still have smilies next to the topics). I'm not sure how to describe it. If someone proficiant in FORUM TROUBLESHOOTING wouldn't mind taking a look at my forum, I'm sure it could use some repair. It's at http://www.openspace2499.com/forum/

Thanks!
RogueEcho<