adding extra field(s) to newthread etc

I have been trying for days to add extra fields to the newthread template and dbase.

Sofar i only managed to get this newfield write something to the dbase but i have no idea how to get this info to show up in the first post of the newthread.

I have did an extensive search here on vb.org but i couldnt find a good answer in similar threads.

Sofar i have done this:

newthread templte:

<tr bgcolor="{secondaltcolor}">
	<td bgcolor="{secondaltcolor}"><normalfont><b>Authors:</b></normalfont></td>	
                <td bgcolor="{secondaltcolor}"><normalfont><input type="text" class="bginput" name="author" value="$author" size="40" maxlength="85" tabindex="1"></normalfont></td>
</tr>

newthread.php on line 262

PHP Code:

      $DB_site->query("INSERT INTO thread (threadid,title,lastpost,forumid,open,replycount,postusername,postuserid,lastposter,dateline,iconid,visible,attach,author) VALUES (NULL,'".addslashes(htmlspecialchars($subject))."','".time()."','$forumid','1','0','".addslashes($postusername)."','$bbuserinfo[userid]','".addslashes($postusername)."','".time()."','$iconid','$visible','$attachcount','$author')"); 

and now im wondering how to get the $author to show up in only the first post of the thread.

Hope someone can help me.

TIA

/Repec

[Repec]

sofar i managed to get the author info to show up in showthread.
i just added $thread[author] somewhere.

but it kinda looks ugly hehe. How do i make it so that i put it in its seperate template?