O/T Godwin's Law

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Came across the term Godwin's Law on Facebook as used by one of my uber-geeky US-based chum. Never heard of it before, but made me chuckle

Godwin's law - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

'Godwin's law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies or Godwin's Law of Nazi Analogies) is an argument made by Mike Godwin in 1990 that has become an Internet adage. It states: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches. In other words, Godwin observed that, given enough time, in any online discussion—regardless of topic or scope—someone inevitably makes a comparison to Hitler and the Nazis.'

 

[JetsetJimbo]

Only a total Nazi could get to 2012 without having heard of Godwin's Law. You, Sir, are worse than Hitler!

 

[Gwylan]

Funnily enough I was thinking about this last night when I was wondering whether there should be a new version involving Thatcher. If you look at any average NSC page, there are certain to be some references to Thatch.

Couldn't think what the law would be though.

 

[readingstockport]

Try Poe's law and Rule #34 while you are it.

Rule #34, no exceptions. Certainly none I have ever found yet.

 

[Paskman]

I think that the big give away about it being b*ll*x is the "in 1990" bit. How many people were on line in 1990?

 

[Stat Brother]

Arse biscuits.

We had Godwin's on here years ago.
I forgot the name but remembered the principle.

The amount of times I could have smugly chucked in a Godwin whilst stroking my beard!

 

[JetsetJimbo]

I think that the big give away about it being b*ll*x is the "in 1990" bit. How many people were on line in 1990?

More than you'd think. Usenet's been around since the late 1970s (the internet isn't just the web).

 

[Gwylan]

I think that the big give away about it being b*ll*x is the "in 1990" bit. How many people were on line in 1990?

What do you mean being bollox? Are you saying that the term doesn't exist? I can assure you that it's a really well-known phenomenon. It's a term I've been aware of for some 20 years.

And, as has been pointed out elsewhere, there were plenty of people online in 1990

 

[severnside gull]

Certainly applies on here plus there are a few who are happy to kick in with it at post one

 

[BadFish]

Certainly applies on here plus there are a few who are happy to kick in with it at post one

It was the same in Nazi germany or during the Maggie years!

 

[severnside gull]

It was the same in Nazi germany or during the Maggie years!

Nah......I'm pretty sure there was no internet then

 

[BadFish]

Nah......I'm pretty sure there was no internet then

It was exactly that sort of pithy disregard for the truth that let Hitler (and Maggie) come to power!

 

[Acker79]

It's been used on here before. I'm pretty sure I've used it, and I've definitely interpreted it for others when someone else mentioned it.

 

[Acker79]

Something interesting on the BBC New website
Suarez - Page 10
Best NSC members? - Page 3
Smacking Children - Page 5
The Catholics are at it again - Page 11
Is this justice? - Page 4
Why do England supporters boo other countries national anthems? - Page 3
Paedophiles - Should we bring back Capital Punishment - Page 5
Richard Carpenter as an Albion player - Page 3

There are others I just got bored looking.

 

[8ace]

UNIX was developed in the late '60s and that is a multi-user environment.

 

[Acker79]

I think that the big give away about it being b*ll*x is the "in 1990" bit. How many people were on line in 1990?

If you go to the wikipedia article, the link to the 1990 bit takes you to an article where it is mentioned it was referring to usenet groups (described as a sort of combination of email and bulletin board) that were started in the early 80s. Going to the page on the internet talk about a standardisation of TCP/IP as a worldwide connection coming in 1982. It became commercially common in the early/mid-90s, but was used in private and government settings prior to this.

 

[Paskman]

If you go to the wikipedia article, the link to the 1990 bit takes you to an article where it is mentioned it was referring to usenet groups (described as a sort of combination of email and bulletin board) that were started in the early 80s. Going to the page on the internet talk about a standardisation of TCP/IP as a worldwide connection coming in 1982. It became commercially common in the early/mid-90s, but was used in private and government settings prior to this.

But lets face it in the great scheme of things it was pretty much of a minority pastime in the 80s. How many people actually had acess, let alone had long debates ending in Hitler? Still I have learnt today/

 

[Acker79]

But lets face it in the great scheme of things it was pretty much of a minority pastime in the 80s. How many people actually had acess, let alone had long debates ending in Hitler? Still I have learnt today/

Enough for Godwin to postulate his law, apparently. I don't mean that to sound glib. You're right it wasn't widely used, I just meant to explain that there was something resembling what would become the internet that was being used by a number of people, even going back to the 60s if you were one of the rare people with a super computer.

 

[Nibble]

Godwin's law is quite common knowledge and should be treated as any other "law" in debating, if it's relevant and illustrates your point it's acceptable.

 

[Frutos]

I think that the big give away about it being b*ll*x is the "in 1990" bit. How many people were on line in 1990?

Internet rules and laws: the top 10, from Godwin to Poe - Telegraph

To quote from that article:

The most famous of all the internet laws, formed by Mike Godwin in 1990. As originally stated, it said: "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1." It has now been expanded to include all web discussions.