XF 1.5 How to make the thread icon come from the SECOND poster in the thread?

[ForestForTrees]

Hello,

We have a Q&A feature on our forum where anonymous questioners have their questions answered by established experts in our tiny community. In the thread listing, we'd like to have the expert's avatar show rather than the default "Guest" avatar that we see so often now. Is there any way of doing this with a template edit?

In other words, we'd like to have the thread icon in the thread listing be the second poster's avatar rather than the original poster's avatar.

Here's what it looks like now: many default avatars in the thread listing. These could be the avatars/photos of our expert panel, though!


Here's what a typical thread looks like. Notice the expert is the second poster. He has a great avatar that will increase engagement. We want to use it!

 

[Paul B]

It would likely require an add-on to retrieve the second post author's user record and override the avatar function for the thread.