Hiding Connections

Description
This pattern occurs when a user cease to be interested by the content shared by a certain connection and therefore hides all future content from that connection.

Examples
An example could be a distant relative that shares a lot of content of which the user does not find interesting. Although, since it is a relative, the user feels uncomfortable with removing the connection and therefore chooses to hide the content instead..

Pros and Cons
This pattern can be seen as a somewhat neutral pattern. On one hand users will be encouraged to larger networks but on the other hand users might be less willing to contribute if the pattern isn't designed for. In a longer perspective the pattern might lead to users leaving the service completely.

Relations
The pattern is a result of Adding Friends (Crumlish & Malone) with a relation to the Re-Following pattern in the matter that the user do not want to announce the unsubscribing part because it tends to upset other users. It is also somewhat related Maintaining A Facade since a public notification about a user unsubscribing to another could be interpreted as a strong reaction to some specific content shared by that user.

This pattern might lead to Identity Stasis or Unfriending (Crumlish & Malone).

Hiding Connections is also closely related to The Ex-Boyfriend Antipattern (Crumlish & Malone).

Contributors
Created by Andreas Bjerkeholt from the inspiration of Malin Mattsson and Magnus Spånggård. Revised by Patric Westberg.