I don't know if it's possible, but it'd be real nice if we could customize our front page portal.  I just noticed the current layout change when I logged in, and I found it quite jarring and busy looking.  I mean, I'll get used to it, so it's no big deal.  But still, it'd be nice if we could define our own layout. Also, you could offer it exclusively to one (or more) of your GDNet+ tiers, thereby incentivizing people to sign up for that feature (I would upgrade my account for this + ad free in a heartbeat).

To give an example: I really don't need (or want) the sections about contractors, game jobs, image of the day, upcoming events, who's online, etc...  It'd be nice if I could hide these or collapse them in some way.

I know this would not be trivial to implement, but if ever you get everything done, and you're so totally bored that you need something to do, then this is something you might want to consider? 

This left-column layout is under testing. I don't know if it will be permanent yet, but as an experiment it certainly introduces different UX characteristics than the right-column layout (the only change is moving right -> left).

Customization has been a long-standing idea here. In fact at one point in the early 2000's we experimented with a "me.gamedev.net" that would allow you to do just that. Unfortunately it didn't turn out very useful, or maybe it was just ahead of its time. Either way, we killed the idea.

Since then, another idea has been brewing in my head for a good 10+ years that I've started working on, and while you won't have full layout customization, a core tenet of the idea is to allow you to have more control over the content you see and are interested in seeing on GameDev.net. Recommendations, customization of content, and connecting with people are all central to the idea. My hope is that this will help with the concerns you bring up, or at least mitigate seeing information you don't care about.

I don't know how long it will take to get a beta up and running for this, but I'm working on it.

The new homepage layout is another iteration in the right direction.

The new "Activity" tab will be whatever your default stream is set to. This is customizable by you. Go to Search -> My Activity Streams to create your own, and then set the "check" next to the stream name to set your default stream.

Hopefully this layout addresses some of the concerns and provides a bit of customization.

This left-column layout is under testing.

I don't like the left bar.

Also get off my lawn.  Now excuse me I have to go yell at some clouds.