Developer Post indicator
 

We would like to add a feature to our forums similar to that of the WoW forums. Every time a developer posts in a thread, an icon is displayed next to the thread. Upon clicking this icon, it takes you to the post made by the developer.

In addition to this, we would like to have a way to track all developer posts in a central location. Using the WoW forums as an example again, this fan site has an awesome way of doing this - http://blue.mmo-champion.com/ .

Are there any existing plugins that would allow for this? If we have to add this from scratch, any advice / good places to start?

As far as the actual tracker goes, what is the best way to implement this? We were thinking of doing a simple RSS feed on specific users or usergroups. Is there a better approach to this?

I found a nifty way to do this but it involves adding a new column to the database.

Is there any easy way to do this w/o having to modify the database or edit any of the .php files? I'd love to be able to create such a system via the plugin system and modified templates.