Thanks for the feedback, I had no idea anyone would be bothered by it. It seemed that leaving access to the menu that allows for readers to more quickly and easily browse the site was a positive thing.
That style of menu is all over. Is your annoyance particularly on blogs that use them, or on any site?
With Stylish as a plugin on my browser, it's become disgustingly easy for me to attack annoyances. Including FWIW, Hacker News itself:
http://stylebot.me/styles/2945
Basically: if it moves, is fixed, is an interstitial, or is just plain annoying, I kill the hell out of it. And with Stylebot, the easy stuff is just point, click, and "Hide". Then it's gone.
That style of menu is all over. Is your annoyance particularly on blogs that use them, or on any site?