I think , many people would look for "*" and not "**", and can only do it this way, when they read this topic. Or they never had the idea to do it this way.
I support the suggestion, because it´s really simple - and useful, but I don´t know, how hard it is to change this. I often try to click the name - and go to the profile, although I don´t want. It´s intuitive to come to the next post of the user. Clicking on the name over the avatar can bring you to the profile, if you want.