@krisidious said:
If you're doing it in order to hide them more quickly, you can always use layers.
You've got a good point. If you wear hat, though...
Using layers to control visibility is better than Hide. Use Hide for temporarily getting things out of the way.
Also, if you haven't done so, give the Outliner a thorough look and think about what it is showing you. Don't make the newbie mistake of making a group, drawing some more edges and faces, selecting them along with the group and making another group.