Thanks for the feedback. We've been using the technique on a few other sites with mostly positive response. We're tweaking it as we go.

On article pages, the left-side article list is actually pretty similar to something like a "See Also" box that would just show a few articles. Add a few extras and make it infinitely scrollable, and that's what we've got here. The main benefit is to not have to do a full page-load when skimming a series of articles. You also get the google reader-like J/K key navigation. Otherwise you'll be clicking the Back button and going back and forth.

Having the right sidebar scroll separately helps with ad exposure and keeps it from showing just whitespace. Some people like it.

The problem with Gawker redesign was not multiple scrolling columns. The ReadWrite thing is just a cutesy effect, not a functionality change.

Thankfully the right scrolling bit is all ads, so you can just ignore it. No navigation there, thank god.

The Gawker redesign was fixed-height.