Edit /etc/fstab to add the following line to allow any user to mount /mnt/floppy which is particularly convenient from the Gnome mount applets which you can click on to cause a mount or unmount. Or create symbolic links for Gnome from your /.gnome-desktop directory to /floppy. Then Gnome seems to magically do the mounting for you when you open them (they will appear on your Gnome desktop and you can change the icons to more appropriate symbols such as a floppy). I guess you better make sure you unmount the floppy before you physically remove the media.
/dev/fd0 /mnt/floppy auto defaults,noauto,users,rw 0 0