Carrol
-------- Original Message -------- Subject: [PEN-L:32919] Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: 'Neill goes, Bono stays Date: Mon, 09 Dec 2002 13:38:27 -0500 From: ravi <gadfly at exitleft.org> Reply-To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu To: pen-l at galaxy.csuchico.edu
Michael Perelman wrote:
> Both grandfathers made lots of $$$ working with the Nazis. Ravi, what is
> the law you mentioned a couple of days ago with respect to the Nazis and
> discussion?
>
goodwin's law:
http://members.tripod.com/~goodwin_2/law.html
Goodwin's Law of Usenet
Professor Goodwin, U of I, in 1981 made the observation that Usenet discussions gravitate downhill.
He postulated that as the length of a discussion thread grows, the probability approaches one (1) that one participant will introduce the terms "Hitler" or "Nazi".
The custom has evolved that the first party to utter "Hitler" or "Nazi" has lost the discussion, and the thread terminates.
;-)
ravi's corollary for pen-l:
any post that uses the word "stalin" or any combination of the words "chomsky", "khmer rouge", "faurisson", suffers the same interpretation.
;-)
--ravi