Omitting some of the icons?

[محروم.كوم]

Recently I visited a forum using vBulletin (don't remember where, unfortunately) in which no "new post" and "no new post" icons were used. I liked the forum's uncluttered look. I have three questions.

1) What do you think -- do such icons really add anything to a user's experience at a forum?

I've been a participant at a forum for more than ten years, but I don't ever remember looking to see if there were new posts or not. I would just look at the threads that interested me and look to see if there were any posts I hadn't read yet.

2) I would like to try this more minimalist appearance at my forum. How would I go about removing some of the icons? I'm thinking of leaving the "new post" icon in for a while, but removing the "no new post" icon.

3) Finally, am I correct in thinking that a button is something that you click on, whereas an icon is a static image and not something that you click on? __DEFINE_LIKE_SHARE__