I'm sorry, I don't enjoy using AdBlock, but I was forced to to even read this article. I've not seen ads like the Flash ad at the bottom of the screen before on Polygon, if it's an experiment it's been unsuccessful imo.
Combined with the gutters, it reduces the percentage of the screen that's actually content to something like ~25% and is not removable. I want to support authors and creators using whatever method they think is best, but if your content is rendered illegible I'm afraid I will avoid that.
My personal standards can only stretch so far before I'll just take what I want, and I imagine many consumers are similar. Please reconsider your ad format.