Hi Dan

Maybe too late, but I have a couple of suggestions...

1) I never use a short fence.. especially halfway through the blade.. That leaves your work piece vibrating around there and the possiblity of making contact with the teeth coming UP at the rear... and the possibiltiy of flipping it up and throwing it back at you.. Or at the very least, tearing chunks out of it.
2) If you have an outfeed table, you should push your strips all the way up to the actual saw table, then pick up the push stick and push the piece all the way through the blade. The idea of the push stick is to hold the piece down to the table, against the fence and keep the hands away from the blade. If you have featherboards, you don't need the pushstick as you aren't getting anywhere near the blade anyway..
3) You didn't mention, but your blade should not project up above your stock being cut more than 1/4" or the thickness of a tooth if it's carbide.
4) A splitter is a good thing.. it will keep the workpiece against the fence all the way through the blade.... However, with no fence behind the blade, that's a mute point.. It will keep the kerf from closing due to stress in the wood.
5) When tailing-off your own stock you absolutely MUST keep your wood straight.. If you are 5 or 6' behind the saw, and you move that back end even 1/2", you will pivot your material and run it into the front blade teeth ( once it passes the featherboard ) and in your case.. with the short fence, you are pivoting it into the blade ( making the yellow dust ). This is what I believe you are doing. You probably don't even notice you are moving the piece at your end.. but it only take a fraction of an inch and you are changing the cutting angle at the blade.

Personally, I use the full fence... Pushsticks: a flat board with a heel and handle for wide stock.. and a shoe shaped cut out for narrow stock. I make them out of particle board or scrap plywood and I run them over/past the blade. It cuts into the bottom of the push stick, but doesn't get anywhere near going through.
I do not use featherboards ( and this is not a recommendation, just a preferance ) as I put my pressure on the stick with the pushstick. I keep it down on the table, and against the fence at all times. With an outfeed table, I seldom, if ever have to tail off anything. That's the purpose of the outfeed table... so you don't need to go back and support your stock.
I NEVER let anyone tail off wood for me.. unless they've had a few years experience. That's a very critical job, for the reason YOU are having issues with your cuts.! Accuracy is VERY important and that's one place you can really mess up.. often without knowing it.

As for the blade, it depends on the amount of teeth and what it's purpose is.. There's a difference between cross-cut and ripping blades. Cross cut blades have more off-set in the teeth and make a rougher cut. Ripping blades have less set in the teeth and give a smoother finish.
Also, stopping during a cut, as changing hand possition or moving your feet... whatever.. will cause some cut lines in the surface. It's important that you make your cuts with a fluid movement.. same speed all the way from start to finish. If you have to change hand possition, you keep one hand on the stock and keep it moving until you move the other hand. When you get to the table, you can keep your push stick next to the fence or to the left of your stock and pick it up with one hand while you keep the stock moving with the other. This takes a little practice, but it's not difficult. NEVER take your eyes off the cutting area... NEVER.. have your push stick in one place so you can pick it up without looking.. and above all else, NEVER reach over the blade to do ANYTHING.!!!! If wood jams or you feel it trying to kick back... hold it and turn off the saw. If you can't reach the switch... and you can't push it through, raise it up off the blade... ( and again, this is assuming you don't use featherboards ).

For you, first thing I'd do is get a full length fence on there, or at least one that stops past the blade. I think this is most of your problem. You are pivoting your stock into the blade when pulling it. If possible, install one of those splitters to keep the stock against the fence until it's well past the blade.

Hope this helps....

Rehd