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I had a question about that...I saw my Company of Dragons thread show up on the main page earlier today. While I was ecstatic, it brought up a question: how does the site determine which picture from the blog to display as the thumbnail? It didn't appear to be choosing the first or the last one loaded. Is it entirely random? And if so, is there a way we can change it (or request to have it changed)?

Sorry to waste your time. I feel like this is such a petty thing to bring up, I just had a brief moment of worry that everytime someone saw my blog, they'd forever assosciate it with the thumbnail pic: broken, half-painted models stuffed into a cigar box.

I had a similar experience recently, i kept seeing someone else's blog there every time i looked, but i realised that it just shows the most recently updated blogs not specially chosen ones. As for the thumbnail, i assumed it was the first image of the last post by the OP but i'm guessing really.

It isn't. It seems like it chose a random image for mine, but every time I update (and my blog shows up on the main page) the thumbnail for it is the same pic from the middle of one of my posts. It's really aggravating, since it's a crappy pic.

I've gone through the FAQ's and still haven't found anything. The second time my blog came up on the main page (after my last update) it was still the same pic. I'm thrilled to have my blog up there, I just don't want everyone who sees it to think all the work is as terrible as that one picture.

Legoburner will be able to explain it further I believe the way that content is chosen to appear on the blog is a fairly complex algorithm that weights images and threads based on views, votes exalts and things like that

Ahh sweet, sounds quite interesting, filbert. Particularly so if it isn't giving the desired effects.
@Jim, if there is no way of fixing it for you it might be of comfort to know that because those images are so small i base my clicking on the title. I bet a lot of other people are the same.

If you mean promotion on the left hand side of the main page, it uses a complex mixture of things but is typically the first attached photo from the last update by the original poster, where the photo is present in the dakka gallery. I think it will also try and override that with the first photo found in the most recent OP post if that photo is included from the gallery but dont have the time to check just now. Different situations can cause an override, it is fairly random.

Okie doke. Thanks for taking the time to let me know.