Tabs have been around for a long time in user interfaces, and now would seem to dominate as a means of navigation. 

I have recently noticed that few web applications let you close these tabs, a pattern more commonly found in desktop applications. It would be interesting to see if there are usability studies backing this new behavior or simply that the web still lags a bit from their desktop brethren.

I for one, perhaps a sign of OCD, I find myself wanting to get rid of distracting messages as soon as they appear. In fact, I have observed this behavior in others, sometimes even before they’ve had a chance to read the message.

I cant help wonder if this form of communication will become the anti-pattern in the future. Much like the Alert box is almost universally despised and mostly avoided.