# Hiding posts vs unfriending on FB **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 30, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294 "2011-04-30T16:25:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brynda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Brynda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brynda)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/1 "2011-04-30T16:25:24Z")
Yes, another Facebook behavior poll. When someone annoys me, I tend to hide their posts, rather than unfriend them. However, it occurs to me that this might be the chickenshit route. What’s your opinion? Poll to follow. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/2 "2011-04-30T16:30:18Z")
It depends on the person. I won’t unfriend my sister, but some of her posts annoy me, so I hide them. I was once friends with a girl who suddenly became VERY anti-abortion and all of her posts related to that. I ended up unfriending her, partly because of her posts, partly because we never talked anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/3 "2011-04-30T16:49:44Z")
If the posts are merely annoying and not overtly offensive, I hide them. If the posts represent views contradictory to my most deeply held values, I defriend them. I have defriended two people. One for repeatedly making insulting comments about atheists and agnostics and displaying frightening levels of ignorance (as in, ‘‘I’m not really sure you can be a true Christian if you’re not American.’’) The other for posting a xenophobic rant about immigrants followed immediately by a racist prison rape joke. Both were childhood friends, but no way in hell am I aligning myself with that garbage. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/4 "2011-04-30T23:39:22Z")
I will hide someone’s posts if I don’t mind the comments they leave on my posts - I just don’t want to read their blah blah blah. I will un-friend someone if I dislike enough of the comments they leave on my posts, or as **olives** says…if they are just offensive to me and I don’t want to be their friend anymore. Oddly enough there are two people I have hidden and they ended up leaving FB altogether (not just un-friending me). I hid them because they won’t STFU with status updates and I bet they ended up crossing a line and having to leave. ---
**Author:** ![YaraMateo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/58f4c7/32.png) [@YaraMateo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaraMateo)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2011, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/5 "2011-04-30T23:49:02Z")
Hiding some passive agressive. I would unfriend unless with was a relative. I don’t have a facebook, though. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/6 "2011-05-01T01:04:21Z")
I’d like to be able to selectively hide posts (and not just their Farmville rubbish). I have a FB friend who mostly posts interesting stuff but also tends to post a lot of godbothering stuff which I’d rather not read. If I could hide his religious glurge posts only, I’d be content. ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/7 "2011-05-01T01:11:52Z")
I only hide stuff if the person is being maliciously anti-Obama or if their posts heighten my own inadequacies. (FTR I’ve hidden MAYBE 10 posts in 2 years) ---
**Author:** ![tingbudong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tingbudong/32/520_2.png) [@tingbudong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tingbudong)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/8 "2011-05-01T04:43:39Z")
I hide. Usually people who post too, too many baby photos, play Facebook games and the odd individual who I don’t really like. I find it cleans up my news feed considerably. I also block some people from viewing/posting on my wall and from viewing my status - this is reserved for the one or two who feel it absolutely necessary to comment on or ‘like’ every one of my posts or status updates. ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/9 "2011-05-01T16:42:53Z")
Hiding is more polite, plus it’s reversible and if I really want to see what they’re up to I can look at them on purpose. I’d defriend any actual assholes, but then again I don’t friend real assholes in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![campp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@campp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/campp)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/10 "2011-05-01T17:52:32Z")
I’ve hidden a few, mostly when they start quoting religious passages. Interestingly, this morning I discovered a couple of them have de-friended me since. I guess I post too much progressive stuff. Oh well, fair’s fair. ---
**Author:** ![cwthree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9de0a6/32.png) [@cwthree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cwthree)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/11 "2011-05-01T18:03:17Z")
See, I thought this was going to be about hiding posts that I make from certain FB friends versus de-friending them altogether. I have a couple of FB friends who are very religious, or who think that I am still religious, and sometimes I want to post something anti-religious without having to explain my change of heart/mind to them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/12 "2011-05-01T18:07:57Z")
> [@cwthree](#): > > See, I thought this was going to be about hiding posts that I make from certain FB friends versus de-friending them altogether. I have a couple of FB friends who are very religious, or who think that I am still religious, and sometimes I want to post something anti-religious without having to explain my change of heart/mind to them. I do the same with profanity, which I used to never use. (until I started using this site, natch.) ---
**Author:** ![Fiveroptic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiveroptic/32/8257_2.png) [@Fiveroptic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveroptic)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/13 "2011-05-01T18:36:25Z")
Right now I have one hidden who posts scripture several times a day. It’s not that I don’t like her; it’s that I don’t like being preached to or feeling like I’m in church. I figure at some point she’ll either unfriend or hide me because she’s tired of reading updates that includes a mention of my same-sex significant other, or else she’ll accept what she can’t change. Either way, I don’t have to see what Jesus would say and I’m happy with that. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2011, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/14 "2011-05-01T23:32:51Z")
I’ve hidden people who I do actually like, but who post a million times a day about mundane things like whether their kid drank out of a sippy cup. I don’t want to actually unfriend them but their million posts drowned out everything else that was happening. (This was not just one person, by the way.) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/15 "2011-05-02T00:40:53Z")
Most of the people who add me on facebook found through the friend of friend hey maybe you know this guy suggestions by facebook, if i unfriend them i assume i will just end up back there again. I just accept anyone who friends me and immediately hide them. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/16 "2011-05-02T01:37:33Z")
> [@EmAnJ](#): > > It depends on the person. I won’t unfriend my sister, but some of her posts annoy me, so I hide them. I was once friends with a girl who suddenly became VERY anti-abortion and all of her posts related to that. I ended up unfriending her, partly because of her posts, partly because we never talked anyhow. Pretty much this. I don’t unfriend some people because it would be impolitic to do so, but I hide their stuff because I don’t want to see it. If I do unfriend you, it’s for a damned good reason. ---
**Author:** ![Dinaroozie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Dinaroozie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinaroozie)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/17 "2011-05-02T02:20:17Z")
I’ve done a bit of both. It’s similar to meatspace friendships. Some people, you kind of wish they’d shut up sometimes, but you still like them. Facebook gives us the luxury of hiding those people. Other people reveal through their communications that they are dicks and you don’t want to be friends with them. In those cases the appropriate action is the same on facebook and in person (ie stop being friends with them unless that is not an option for whatever reason). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/18 "2011-05-02T07:02:15Z")
Yeah, I forgot to answer the question. Yeah, I’ve done it, but I always make sure to tell people I’m going to do it and why. I hate it when I find out a month later that someone I haven’t heard from has actually unfriended me, so I don’t do it to other people. But mostly I just hide people: I even have a chat group called “Just to be nice” which are people who will never even know I’m online. ---
**Author:** ![SeaDragonTattoo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@SeaDragonTattoo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeaDragonTattoo)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/19 "2011-05-02T08:34:34Z")
The reason I hid the couple of people I did was just because one posted a million YouTube videos a day, and the other one didn’t only have Farmville updates (of which I already have all game updates blocked), she would post regular updates with stupid game stuff, like complaining about not being able to have flashing pigs any more. There’s no reason to unfriend them, though. I think that would be more dickish than hiding updates. This way we can still post on each other’s walls and read comments on other people’s posts. I feel lucky that there aren’t any friends I have to read silly religious or political stuff - we all have very similar views! ---
**Author:** ![Cheesesteak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cheesesteak/32/3694_2.png) [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2011, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294/20 "2011-05-02T21:16:59Z")
Like most others, I hide the annoying but decent people, and would happily unfriend the hateful jerks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hiding-posts-vs-unfriending-on-fb/580294.md?page=2)