-----Original Message----- From: Leo Mauler

--- Brian Densmore wrote:

...

Is it possible to invoke Godwin's law by naming Eva Braun, it being a circular reference to Hitler? Or does that invoke the corollary of Godwin's law? Or is it in itself a circular reference to Godwin's law?

I think its a good time to point out that "Godwin's Law" is nothing more and nothing less a statement of the probability of Hitler being mentioned in a given discussion, being that the probability of Hitler being mentioned in a UseNet discussion ("Godwin's Law" was originally developed on UseNet NEWS) is directly proportional to the length of the UseNet discussion.

What Godwin's Law states and what it has come to mean are not necessarily the same thing. There are lots of "standards" but the real question should be what is the defacto "standard".

It does not make any mention of who "wins" the discussion, a common misconception about "Godwin's Law".

I don't recall saying anything about winning or losing, I was merely mentioning the fact that perhaps this discussion had gone on long enough that some of us might have gotten the feeling we were now members of the BitTorrent users group. ;')

For further reading and in support of my position, I contribute the following quote and link:

quote,

"The Law is generally used on Usenet as an indicator of whether a thread has gone on too long, who's playing fair and who's just slinging mud, and who finally gets to "win" the discussion. It has, over time, become the closest thing to an impartial moderator that Usenet can get.

So, what this means in practical terms:

o If someone brings up Nazis in general conversation when it wasn't necessary or germane without it necessarily being an insult, it's probably about time for the thread to end. o If someone brings up Nazis in general conversation when it was vaguely related but is basically being used as an insult, the speaker can be considered to be flaming and not debating. o If someone brings up Nazis in any conversation that has been going on too long for one of the parties, it can be used as a fair excuse to end the thread and declare victory for the other side."

and link,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin%27s_law

Not necessarily related.

Now to go see how my Nazi memorabilia is selling over on EBay.