A recent post in c/main has sparked interest in finding a new sidebar banner for our instance. The current one is AI generated, and was chosen by our users from a bunch of other AI-generated submissions. It has been three years since then. Also, the mood toward AI has shifted. Maybe it’s time for something new, and human-made?

This post is a place to collect submissions for new banner artwork. Put your art in the comments below! We plan to leave this post open for two weeks, and hold a vote on Friday, Sept. 11.

For context, here is the recent post in c/main: https://sh.itjust.works/post/65729579

Here is the old banner discussion: https://sh.itjust.works/post/1022097

And here is the old banner vote: https://sh.itjust.works/post/1432783
(Unfortunately, some of the image links are broken.)

    • mindbleach@sh.itjust.works
      53·
      10 days ago

      Seconded. It’s fine. It’s a product of a particular moment, but it’s only intended to be seen as a little side image for flair. I’ve thought about painting over it, but (1) it would look identical in situ and (2) the reactionaries would not care. They can complain about the details, but addressing those complaints doesn’t work. The nature of bad faith is that there is no right answer.

      Admittedly the case for keeping it is weaker than e.g. the Games community’s “name any object in this image” sidebar. There, the abstraction is a feature, looking appropriate at a glance but devoid of specifics. It never needs to be updated with newer games or pruned of fallen creators. It’s cover art impressionism. Here, though, it’s just a cute rodent and some computer shit, as illustrated by a robot. People being mad at the robot is not reason enough to drop in any slapdash alternative as if the human wrist has magically imbued that with intent.

    • Pika@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      21·
      7 days ago

      this is my vote as well, yes it has issues but honestly it fits the theme and the other submissions I’ve seen haven’t screamed itjust.works

    • eyekaytee@sh.itjust.works
      87·
      9 days ago

      good lord, people hate on ai then submit dogshit for images and want people to do work for free, it’s hilarious:

      ai art steals work from artists!!!

      ok then if any actual artists want to step up feel free to

      crickets

      i guess thanks to the anti ai people for giving another reason why ai art is useful even if it isn’t 100% accurate

      • Susaga@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        51·
        8 days ago

        Gosh, I wonder why more artists aren’t active on the instance with the AI banner image. Surely, the lack of artists justifies the hostility towards artists and doesn’t create a vicious cycle.

        Those dogshit images are a vast improvement to AI.

        • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          45·
          7 days ago

          Those dogshit images are a vast improvement to AI.

          Omg no. 🤣

          This is the worst collection of copy/paste things on lemmings… It’s like a museum of early 2000’s blog banners.

                • trebach@sh.itjust.works
                  3·
                  7 days ago

                  At least shitty Photoshops mean you actually put some effort in to find source images and put them together. AI requires no effort from anyone aside from the computer.

                • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  24·
                  7 days ago

                  Your “submission” is little more than trolling. An insult to anyone taking the idea seriously. It’s much worse than somebody who actually put some thought and time into using an AI to create something they genuinely believe would be a good image but didn’t have the art skills to make it a reality.

                  • Susaga@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                    1·
                    7 days ago

                    …I’m going to put aside how easy art skills are to develop if you actually try, for the time being. I’ve just read a 20 post rant about this exact mentality on bluesky, by an actual artist, and they said it better than I can summarise.

                    You honestly think someone putting in their own time and effort is trolling, but telling an AI to shit out some image using stolen art assets involves thought and time? You think low-quality hand-made art is more insulting than AI slop?

                    If you actually think that, then further discussion will get us nowhere, so don’t bother replying.

          • St.Elsewhere@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
            32·
            7 days ago

            AI produces the purest blob of lowest common denominator, displaying all the life of a twirling gas station hotdog. There’s no journey in AI pics. No thought or feeling. I’d take novel, amateurish humanity over corporate blandness any day. The only people I routinely find using AI are republicans and my illiterate friend.

            • ikt@aussie.zone
              12·
              1 day ago

              Check out my masterpiece! I call it: “Only republicans use AI and my illiterate friend”

            • atzanteol@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              32·
              7 days ago

              AI produces the purest blob of lowest common denominator,

              I think you need to take a good long gander at some of these submissions. 🤣

              This is so ridiculous.

              The only people I routinely find using AI are republicans and my illiterate friend.

              Did you seriously just “you must be a republican and therefore are wrong by association” me? Good lord…

              • St.Elsewhere@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
                2·
                7 days ago

                I don’t think they’re 100% serious attempts within the first 4 days, but I do like at least one of them for the sidebar.

                And I didn’t call you a republican, just a philistine. My friend certainly isn’t a republican.