NationStates Jolt Archive

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.
"Similarly, this is true of the first use of the world 'liberal' in a derogatory fashion."

Couldn't the same be said of the word conservative, libertarian, socialist...blah blah blah

Using broad categories in a negative manner (which everyone on this forum does) ruins discussion. Even a Canadian knows that ;)

The custom has evolved that the first party to utter "Hitler" or "Nazi" has lost the discussionGeorge W Bush ran a campaign ad protraying Hitler as a John Kerry supporter. He later accused MoveOn.org of sponsoring the Hitler stuff, which was a lie. John Kerry did not run a campaign ad portraying Hitler as a Bush supporter. Bush didn't lose the election.

Now if only this rule could be enforced. Applied to any group: Nazi, Liberal, Conservative, etc. It would certainly clean up the boards a fair bit.