Godwin's Law prov. [Usenet] "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." There is a tradition in many groups that, once this occurs, that thread is over, and whoever mentioned the Nazis has automatically lost whatever argument was in progress. Godwin's Law thus practically guarantees the existence of an upper bound on thread length in those groups. However there is also a widely- recognized codicil that any intentional triggering of Godwin's Law in order to invoke its thread-ending effects will be unsuccessful.
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Should Godwin's law be applied to sciforums? I don't think it should apply to discussions that start out about Nazi's or Hitler; but discussions that end up being about Nazi's and Hitler. Should mods have the right to close these crap-traps? Or if a Garbage/Rants forum were to be created, could they be moved there?

Does the implementation of Godwin's Law also include that all discussions about Nazis and Hitler be immediately closed?

Like, what if there is a thread about the impact of Neonazism on modern culture, or something like that -- should such topics be prohibited?

Dear Lord, please spare me from stabbing someone with a fork.

I don't think it should apply to discussions that start out about Nazi's or Hitler; but discussions that end up being about Nazi's and Hitler.

Let me rephrase:

It shouldn't apply to discussions that start out about Nazi's or Hitler.

Hmmm, what if we started a thread that was about hitler/nazis? wouldn't this law cause problems?
Anyway, you sound like a bit of a nazi with all these strict laws you are proposing.
sig heil! lol, am I right folks?

Hmmm, what if we started a thread that was about hitler/nazis? wouldn't this law cause problems?
Anyway, you sound like a bit of a nazi with all these strict laws you are proposing.
sig heil! lol, am I right folks?

I am going to kill you! Look, as I said before; if a thread is started about Nazi shit then it should remain, if the thread turns into a discussion about Nazis or Hitler then it should be closed or something. Reading the fucking first post and definition of Godwin's law will tell you this.

I will eat your soul, Dr Lou. And it's not strict unless you're trying to shut people like PM up.

Yeah I get that, but don't you see? We have a history forum now, the story of adolf hitler's rise to power and consequent fall is an interesting one, you can't stop people making threads about hitler and nazis. This proposal is utter madness!

And ahh 'eat my soul'? I suppose you support the gassing of jews too? :mad: you make me sick.

*bangs head on desk*
Yeah I get that, but don't you see? We have a history forum now, the story of adolf hitler's rise to power and consequent fall is an interesting one, you can't stop people making threads about hitler and nazis. This proposal is utter madness!

THIS IS IT! Read this!
DO NOT CLOSE THREADS THAT START OUT ABOUT NAZIS/HITLER/WHATEVER, CLOSE THE THREADS THAT TURN INTO DISCUSSIONS ABOUT NAZIS/HITLER/WHATEVER!

Jebus Christ on a cross-walk, get it through your fucking head.

but what if the thread is about hitler?


Sorry, couldn't resist. I can understand closing the thread at this point, but it generally fun to point out godwin's law and ridicule the offender for a while.

Look dude, I didn't have time to read that last post, but I will say this;
Covering up history just because you don't like it is not cool. I don't like hitler, but it happened, we should learn about him and perhaps learn from his mistakes to strive for a better future :tear:
Just my 2 cents...
Peace I'm out :(


haha I'm just fuckin with ya :D

What he's saying is if the thread has nothing to do with nazi's, hitler, yaddah yaddah, and someone uses nazi's as a metaphor for something totally unrelated, then that is godwin's law. It's like saying Atari sucks, they're a bunch of nazi's.

Edit: doh! didn't see the fine print. Sorry.

Dear Lord, please spare me from stabbing someone with a fork.



Let me rephrase:

It shouldn't apply to discussions that start out about Nazi's or Hitler.

Hey, you added that edit AFTER I asked my question.

I didn't. It doesn't show that the post has been edited.

*bangs head on desk*


THIS IS IT! Read this!
DO NOT CLOSE THREADS THAT START OUT ABOUT NAZIS/HITLER/WHATEVER, CLOSE THE THREADS THAT TURN INTO DISCUSSIONS ABOUT NAZIS/HITLER/WHATEVER!

Jebus Christ on a cross-walk, get it through your fucking head.


All it took was a clarification, okay? ;)

Now don't bang your dear head on the desk, you'll have bruise, and you can't blame anyone else for having it but yourself. Peace, man. :m:

What he's saying is if the thread has nothing to do with nazi's, hitler, yaddah yaddah, and someone uses nazi's as a metaphor for something totally unrelated, then that is godwin's law.
I honestly understood that from the start. I assumed it would be obvious I was joking.
Hmmm, what if we started a thread that was about hitler/nazis?
Notice the italics on about, straight after coffee clarified what he meant. Its like uber-ironically annoying. No one could be that dumb. And I even do what he obviously has a problem with by comparing him to hitler :confused:
Tough crowd...

I know, it's also ironic that I noticed it before you noticed that I noticed. I edited my post to apologize before your last post. :p Sorry, man, I'm thick sometimes.

Should Godwin's law be applied to sciforums? I don't think it should apply to discussions that start out about Nazi's or Hitler; but discussions that end up being about Nazi's and Hitler. Should mods have the right to close these crap-traps? Or if a Garbage/Rants forum were to be created, could they be moved there?

Are there many of these threads already of sciforums?

Yes, Spurious. They are mainly driven to ground by people called Proud_ or Whirl_. I don't want to name names.

I think that all propaganda threads should be closed immediately. But this is off topic.


My apologies for that...

The thing I have against moving the thread, is what if the first of the thread actually had some constructive debate. If you move the thread to a rant forum or whatever, you're basically killing it. I guess closing it will do the same, but at least it will be in the appropriate forum and will come up on a search.

You cannot debate Godwin's Law. If a discussion about oil reserves in Iraq turns into a discussion about Nazi's and oil, then the thread is dead and all posibilities of good discussion have been exhausted. Godwin's Law is a known proven fact.

I understand that, but I mean whatever might have been said before it degenerated into chaos. Taking your example of oil reserves in Iraq, there could have been good debate bringing up good points before it turned nasty. So if the thread were moved to another forum, you wouldn't be able to find the thread in a search in the relevant forum. Things could get lost that way.

The only reason to move the thread but not lock it would be to allow the flame war to continue. As you say, nothing useful will result from this, so it would've been better to merely lock the thread and leave it where it was.

Actually, Godwin's law was never meant to be used as a tool to guage when a thread should be closed. I don't believe threads should be closed when somebody employs the "you are a nazi" tactic, as this then becomes a tool to have threads shut down. Nor do I believe they should be moved (or that a Rants" forum should even exist, actually) because the animosity created by that type of atmosphere would continue to spill back into the regular forums. I've seen happen countless times in the past 25 years. Noooo, the only practical manner in which Godwin's Law can be used is to call attention to the violator's action, allow a brief period of scorn and ridicule by others, and then move on.

Either that, or carve the Law into a granite slab and drop it on the offender's head.

;) Peace.

No, Godwin's law should not be employed as a tool to measure, limit, or affect Sciforums threads.

The flip-side, for instance, is misogyny.

Some posters like to call everything cunts. Some posters have a particular distaste for soccer moms. I think that, similarly to those who like to call everything Nazi, the poster's general argument is over if cunts and soccer moms are all they've got in a discussion of economics or gun control, for instance.

And besides, it's just words. Get rid of "Nazi" and people will just say things like, "You're fascist!" when you advise them they're interpreting a sentence wrongly.

The idea of Godwin's law and how people use it within internet discussions are two separate things entirely.

And no, Godwin's law is not a known, proven fact. It's more of a superstition, an observation of the cult.

By the way, that poll pretty much renders this topic nonviable.

After all, you forgot the, "Yes, I am a Nazi" option.

By the way, that poll pretty much renders this topic nonviable.

After all, you forgot the, "Yes, I am a Nazi" option.

I did. Of course, the thread was started as a semi-joke.

in that case, it is unfortunate that you have to resort to spamming this noble experiment in democracy. you are quite the character.

You Nazi...

:D "noble experiment in democracy" :D

For an example see the thread "Edufer" in the site feedback area. Even though Andre tried to hide the reference, the thread was still locked down. :cool:

yeah, but what if the thread was started about Nazis?


and b4 you kill me, yes, that WAS a joke

People abuse the evocation of Nazi images as a means of expressing themselves on threads all the time. It sucks, but I think it should be allowed.