"Richard is one of the finest writers I have worked with, and I am thrilled he is bringing his unique voice to The Atlantic Wire," said Mr. Snyder, who has been the site's editor since January. Certainly, Mr. Lawson will bring a "New York tone" to the brand, something Mr. Snyder told The New York Observer was part of his plan to revamp the site.

Mr. Lawson has been working at Gawker since 2007, making his way up from ad sales to writer, based in no small part due to his popularity as a commenter, LolCait. In July of 2009, Mr. Lawson left the site to write for TV.com; he was back at Gawker in his old chair by December.

Of his new gig, Mr. Lawson told The Observer, "I am very excited about moving to The Wire." (We hope this starts a trend of referring to The Atlantic's online property like it's an HBO show about drug gangs in Baltimore.) "Both Remy (Stern, Gawker's current editor in chief) and Nick were very gracious of my decision; I think they both knew that I wanted to do other writing."

As for what he'll be covering, Mr. Lawson sadly informs us that for right now, he doesn't think he'll be doing recaps of any Real Housewives shows. "I believe it's going to be mostly blog stuff and reviews," he told us, adding that original content such as celeb interviews might be on the table as well.

Any chance we'll be seeing his name back on the Gawker masthead in six months? "I hope this time it sticks," Mr. Lawson laughed. If he doesn't return, well, we'll always have Paris.