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Old 09-27-2006, 01:36 PM   #9
kansast
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Thumbs up There ya have it

O.k. I'm claiming Godwin's Law

Godwin Law states:
As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one. [1]


Quote:
There is a tradition in many newsgroups and other Internet discussion forums that once such a comparison is made, the thread is finished and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically "lost" whatever debate was in progress. This principle is itself frequently referred to as Godwin's Law. Thus Godwin's Law serves also to impose an upper bound on thread length in general.

It is considered poor form to arbitrarily raise such a comparison with the motive of ending the thread. There is a widely recognized codicil that any such ulterior-motive invocation of Godwin's Law (in the above sense) will be unsuccessful. This is sometimes referred to as "Quirk's Exception". "RGB's Restriction of Quirk's Exception", also states: "In cases where the subject of the comparison to Hitler fails to recognize the applicability of Quirk's Exception, Quirk's Exception shall not apply and Godwin's Law shall take effect in its normal manner."

P=(k^(1/n)) k<1 where P = the probablity of a reference to Hitler/Nazis, n = the number of posts, and k = a constant less than one depending on the subject of the post (k values for posts such as "Discuss WWII" will be much closer to 1 than the k value for a post labeled "Look at the cute doggies").

More Info on Godwin's Law
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