> Gordon Fitch said on 10/26/00 5:47 AM
>
> >At least Godwin's Rule was fulfilled. It's comforting to see
> >the eternal verities manifested.
> >
>
> No entry found for "godwin's rule" in the dictionary.
>
> Suggestions:
Godwin's Law states that as the length of any USENET discussion thread, and the number of parties participating in that thread, grows, the probability that one party will mention Hitler or Nazis appraoches one. A corollary to Godwin's Law says that no matter what the argument is about, or who has produced the better argument, whoever mentions Hitler or Nazis is automagically wrong.
It is tongue in cheek humour about the hysterical degrees to which people tend to go in a flame war on USENET. It is also an artificial limit to the scope/length/flamage of any given thread, and provides a way for all parties to bail out of an obnoxious thread in a humourous manner.
I think Kelley is wrong that "liberal" is a de facto insult on the internet. It is "Nazi". It has been that way for so long that Godwin's Law was talked about when I first started reading USENET ten years ago.
Matt
-- Matt Cramer <cramer at voicenet.com> http://www.voicenet.com/~cramer/ The fear of some divine and supreme powers keeps men in obedience.
-Robert Burton