Comment by fairpx

Interesting experiment. My observation: With the thumbnails, the title of each post becomes a less-important-caption. In the case of HN, I think the text-only approach is far better. Product Hunt used to be text only, and frankly, it was a better experience. The moment you introduce images to these types of communities, people will start using that real estate to create flashy-attention-grabbing visuals. Over time, it'll be more about how good a thumbnail looks, rather than the curiosity of a title that lures you into the content.