But that's not a *side* bar but a *scroll* bar. So I still think that it's about the content.
(Why scrollbar is needed: because of accessibility. I don't think I'll find it now, but I read a thread a while back on it.)
Content-wise, 80% of people use mobile devices to access content, so you need a single column look in place anyway, and I always find it distracting. When you're in the article, that's the only thing you should see. But I'm a radical in this minimalism.