Node.tpl.php overrides

Is it part of 'commons design' that we can't override the node template?

In sites/all/themes/mythemename/templates/node this does not work:

node--content_type_machine_name.tpl.php

If this is so, how do I remove the footer area with the user pictures and move the 'article' left?

This is for an anonymous content so just hiding it with CSS is not good enough.

I know I can re-create the entire node using Panels' Page Manager node/%node but that seems like a lot of needless work.