Godwin's Law

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Godwin's Law (also Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies) is a mainstay of internet culture, an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990.

It states:

As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

Godwin observed that people had increasingly begun to compare anyone and anything they mildly disliked with Hitler and/or Fascism.

Godwin has stated that Godwin's Law does not dispute whether, in a particular instance, a reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be apt.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} It is precisely because such a reference or comparison may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued, that hyperbolic overuse of the Hitler/Nazi comparison should be avoided.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]} Avoiding such hyperbole, he argues, is a way of ensuring that when valid comparisons to Hitler or Nazis are made, such comparisons have the appropriate impact.^{[[Citing sources citation needed]]}

Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet discussions, the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and so on.

Contents

1 Corollaries and usage
2 See also
3 Notes and references

3.1 Footnotes
3.2 Other references

4 External links

Corollaries and usage

There is a tradition in many Usenet newsgroups that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress.

It is considered poor form to arbitrarily raise such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized that any such deliberate invocation of Godwin's Law will be unsuccessful.

Notes and references

Footnotes

Other references

External links

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[Godwin's Law FAQ] (also [link])
in
[Jurisimprudence] — a listing of various fandom and Internet debate laws similar to Godwin's Law
Mike Godwin runs [a blog called "Godwin's Law"]