okay, so let me explain this clearly. i've created a content type called 'ask a question' - only the title field is enabled (left body blank to have it not appear in content settings) - i did this because the faq_ask module didn't totally fit into my workflow (e.g. 'anybody can answer' and so don't want 'everybody to be an expert')
so people post a question, others use comments to answer and so on...i want to allow anybody to answer but also indicate clearly that a certain user may be of the type 'expert'
for example: it's a town site, so if somebody asks about local rules and laws, anybody answers *but* if a town police officer registers and answers, i want to be able to indicate clearly in comments that the user is user type "expert" with either an image or text
right now the taxonomyimage module seems like the right analogy - an image can be associated with a term, so a 'local laws' question can have a little picture of a police officer or whatever...
but i'm trying to now use an image or text for the user type - or simply display the user type in the comment output (e.g. it wouldn't say "Authenticated User" next to all registered people, but for any user type "Expert" it would show that particular item next to username or something....)