Indeed it would impact all other applications, though I've found if the problem exists in one, it exists in multiple to begin with.
You do, but you'd have to rely on the avatar picture for the users.
The AtAppStore is a long time partner of ours has a free nifty utility to automatically put user initials in place of the avatar, so if someone hasn't put a picture up, you'd at least have initials to go off of, in place of a generic body.
Check it out here.