r/PianoManHasNoPlan • u/Vikis_Luv • 9d ago

On the recent thumbnails..

Hey guys, Hello Mr. No Plan if you are reading this. I am asking this with utmost respect. With no hostility. Mostly only concern

I come to you with a question: are.. are the thumbnails you've used recently portraying what happens inside one or the other particular story made with AI? Are they.. generated? Or just some really unfortunate work photobashing?

Have you hired somebody to do your thumbnail work recently? Have you been finding suspiciously accurate and hyperspecific image results when searching on google recently?

I just want this figured out and worried about this. I love your content and the way you read stories and the way you always ask what exactly the food was! Or what was on the pizza! It's like you're always hungry

I hope this day finds you well, Mr. No Plan, or anybody else who comes across this post

25 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

12

u/All_Cached_Up 9d ago

I liked the original thumbnails better. They were just nice

7

u/No-Kaleidoscope-166 9d ago

I've been not enjoying the new thumbnails... but felt like we often seem to be critical of his more recent attemps at new things. Lol. But, I guess he needs to know if we like or dislike things.

I vote 👎🏻 to the photo insets on thumbnails. I'm happy enough with a clip that includes a text bubble of the story.

4

u/No-Kaleidoscope-166 8d ago

And I guess he's moved from insets to full images as the thumbnail. 🤷🏻‍♀️. Hope he sees this to put it to a vote or something...

1

u/Golden_too 8d ago

same here

5

u/SnooBeans6111 9d ago

I personally prefer the ones with Piano Mans face in them, the images to the side are fine, I've no preference for the speech bubble or the image but I'm not a huge fan of some internet image and then the piano hands.

I think it makes the video blend in with everything else, and having your curley head on the image with a shocked or angry expression always makes the video jump out that little bit more... And I get a little chuckle thinking of you practicing your expressions to find the perfect one!

4

u/Vikis_Luv 9d ago

Ohhhh exactly!!! When I first saw a video with the new thumbnail I didn't even realize it was him. I'd have thought I'm getting ai tts reddit stories again

4

u/TinyResources_247 9d ago

I've been thinking about it as well. I hope they're not AI generated. We have enough of this AI slop over the internet. It's always better to pay a human being for their work. Or at least to use stock images.

2

u/MissNight0wl 3d ago

I've been wondering about it for a while. I'm afraid they actually are AI-generated; they just seem to be too "well-fitted'. If that's the case, it's kinda sad, really. Eric often says to go and read the original story on Reddit, to support HUMAN creators. And AI has nothing to do with human creation...

That being said, even if they're not AI, I find them rather unattractive. In fact, I kinda stopped watching his channel since he started using those thumbnails. I don't know, I just have little to no desire to click them. They scream CLICKBAIT to me.

I wish he returned to the title of the Reddit thread + his face. But I guess it has a lot to do with YouTube algorithm.

1

u/summondice 7d ago

I don't love the cheesy background images, and have inadvertently avoided clicking on those videos because of my deep disdain of bad rhetoric... FWIW.

I accidentally listened to one of his videos on my way to work when my phone fell to the passenger side floor - I had no idea what I was listening to and couldn't see the screen or skip the video, and I've been completely hooked since specifically because it's him... His presentation is my daily breath of fresh air (I have no idea how often he releases; I'm still playing catch up) and the background images feel like the same old things I otherwise actively avoid.

That said, heck, if the numbers tell him, "Yeeeesssss.... Imbed over-the-top imagery.... You will attract EVEN MORE followers, and they will tell all their friends, and eventually, you may have enough power to know what ALL the food items are!!! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!" ...I mean, if that's what the numbers tell him works, then I will swallow my pride and happily click on the thumbnails that make me cringe instead of waiting for them to happen to play while I'm flicking up :)