@gazumped - Yeah I guess that kind of puts it in perspective.... Though to alter perception again, my guess is that 80-90 percent of users would love to have this feature if they even knew what it would do for the management of their notes. We're just the 0.0003% who bother to try and find out why it isn't already in place.
This is the only feature request I've ever made I think... and this is the only thread I follow on Evernote Community Forum. I've been here for years as many of us have.
Others will have doubtless left EN by now for other pastures, but I'm a bit too invested in the architecture currently with thousands of notes etc - so am reluctant to re-train elsewhere. Not to say I won't do it one day.
I accept that the coding to create this is likely to be harder than many of us might think... but adding features and altering / bettering functionality is what all successful providers of this kind of service have to do daily - otherwise they get left behind. I know you already know this!
I think a lot of people here also feel a bit un-listened to. TBH, 0.0003% or not, to be able to identify your specific notes using a thumbnail image is really pretty basic in terms of how human logical / ergonomic interactivity works. Icons are everything, and we've known this for decades... so it seems a bit of a shame that this tiny percentage of sad, long-term users have existed here trying to point out that it is more than just worth the effort to make this feature a functioning option... and then have those at EN who monitor this page ignore us instead of thanking us for our observations and for our patience.