I see a number of package submitters are not including desktop icons in early ports and applications.

This is actually useful! Omitting it gives the app an 'unfinished' look, and this can serve as a warning to testers if you feel your app or port should be run with caution (not just installed with caution),

Perhaps the idea could be expanded to a set of generic icons to indicate other testing/QA issues for the user/tester to be aware-of before launching application? It might more trouble than it is worth though.

"Just planting seeds... If they take root, i dunno." - Bill Hicks