2 things

1. The notification contains the following blurb (emphasis added): "Please whitelist GameDev.net or consider a GDNet+ subscription".

I am GDNet+, but I still see the notification. Me being a subscriber is mainly due to using ad blockers, but still wanting to contribute. If possible, I'd definitely prefer the notification not to be there when logged in to a subscriber account.

2. The notification does not play nice when attempting to create a new thread (and I would guess the same occurs when posting a reply with the full editor instead of quick reply). It seems like the notification is drawn behind the text editor window, the notification is impossible to read and/or close, and you're forced to just wait until the timer expires before you're able to proceed as normal. This also was bad on the performance -- almost unresponsive when scrolling.

(Windows 10, Chrome)

1. This is a tricky one because by using an ad blocker with GDNet+, you're also blocking ads from fellow GDNet+ members who are also supporting the site and using the advertising option available to subscribers. GDNet+ removes the bulk/3rd party ads but not direct GDNet ad inventory. Have to think about this.

2. Okay, have to check into that. Could be a simple fix.

Thanks for the swift feedback :)

1. I can see this being an issue. I see the text has been updated for now, and I would say the new text is an improvement.

2. It looks like this is better already, it's now being drawn on top. The overlay (or whatever the thing is called) seems to be too large, though. Scrolling while the notification is open will first scroll a bit in the notification, and then move onto scrolling the window once the notification is fully scrolled.

This can also been seen by the virtue of there being 2 sets of scroll bars -- 1 for the normal page and 1 for the notification overlay.

This might have been an issue before the change as well, so it might not have been introduced now.

EDIT: Whitelisted for now, until a decision has been made.

May I ask what resolution you are typically viewing the site in? I'm surprised about the scroll bars in the modal dialog, but I can see how that might happen depending on resolution. Also, browser would be helpful too.

Thanks!

May I ask what resolution you are typically viewing the site in?

I believe it's 1920x1080.

Windows 10, Chrome.

If you need more details I'll provide them when I'm back home this evening.

Why is that relevant?

I attempted to explain this in more detail in the staff blog: http://www.gamedev.net/blog/2223/entry-2262126-ad-blocking-and-gamedevnet/.

But the gist is that GDNet+ does not remove ads altogether and never has. It removes the bulk/network ads from networks like Adsense and Amazon. This means GDNet+ subscribers are served a significantly smaller pool of ads than regular users, so if ad blockers are used then the pool has a higher degree of competition (less available slots to fill).

GDNet+ subscribers have the option of advertising on GameDev.net. Each "order" is a very small amount of impressions expected to last ~1 month in duration. It's expected that these ads are also highly targeted specifically to game development, so as a viewer you are highly unlikely to see an ad about something you would have no interest in seeing.

This advertising option is a value add to the GDNet+ subscription. However, if GDNet+ subscribers block ads, then they diminish the value of the GDNet+ subscription for others because GDNet+ generated ads are now competing in a larger ad pool (with ad networks and others).

The same principle applies to advertisers who work directly with us (non-network/bulk ads) - these are ads guaranteed to be relevant to game development and are shown to everyone, but if you block them as a GDNet+ subscriber, you are diminishing the value of GameDev.net to those advertisers because their message does not reach their intended audience.

We'll consider an ad-free tier of GDNet+ since there seems to be some demand for it, but it won't happen overnight.