Godwin’s law

Godwin's law

Godwin’s law is an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. It originally referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions. It is now applied to any threaded online discussion, such as Internet forums, chat rooms, and comment threads.

About Godwin’s law in brief

Summary Godwin's lawGodwin’s law is an Internet adage asserting that as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1. Promulgated by the American attorney and author Mike Godwin in 1990, it originally referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions. It is now applied to any threaded online discussion, such as Internet forums, chat rooms, and comment threads, as well as to speeches, articles, and other rhetoric where reductio ad Hitlerum occurs.

Godwin himself has criticized the overapplication of the law, claiming it does not articulate a fallacy; it is instead framed as a memetic tool to reduce the incidence of inappropriate, hyperbolic comparisons.