"Today marks the third annual Systems Administrator Appreciation Day"

Doctor Monsignor Larville Jones MD · Jul 25, 2003

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/31959.html

--
zar 2k3 - ULC Reverend
Certified Word Police Officer - Details Detail
http://www.geocities.com/spamresources/spambots.htm
http://www.drcnet.org/ http://www.abovegod.com/
NuMbEr Tr3#3!!!!11! on a lits...

"A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs,
a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni,
a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag
again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut,
a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal
- Panama!"

- Guy Steele Jr., CLTL2

smellycrackwhore · Jul 25, 2003

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/5/31959.html
Click to expand...

Happy SAAD day M8 ;?)>

Doctor Monsignor Larville Jones MD · Jul 25, 2003

smellycrackwhore said:

Happy SAAD day M8 ;?)>
Click to expand...

You too, you steenking beeyatch. ;oÞ

--
zar 2k3 - ULC Reverend
Certified Word Police Officer - Details Detail
http://www.geocities.com/spamresources/spambots.htm
http://www.drcnet.org/ http://www.abovegod.com/
NuMbEr Tr3#3!!!!11! on a lits...

"A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs,
a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni,
a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag
again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut,
a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal
- Panama!"

- Guy Steele Jr., CLTL2

Doctor Monsignor Larville Jones MD · Jul 25, 2003

smellycrackwhore said:

Furst toim Oi aivur HERD ay MexiCan with ay Henglich accent!

Lol!!11
Click to expand...

Excuse me old chap, but donde esta la zapataria? Thank you so much.

*tips hat*

Godwin's Law FAQ
-or-
"How to post about Nazis and get away with it"

One of the most famous pieces of Usenet trivia out there is "if you mention
Hitler or Nazis in a post, you've automatically ended whatever discussion
you were taking part in". Known as Godwin's Law, this rule of Usenet has a
long and sordid history on the network - and is absolutely wrong. This FAQ
is an attempt to set straight as much of the history and meaning of Godwin's
Law as possible, and hopefully encourage users to invoke it a bit more
sparingly. Of course, knowing Usenet, it won't do an ounce of good...

[Standard Disclaimers: this document assumes you have some basic knowledge
of Usenet; if you don't, go check out news.announce.newusers for a while to
gain said knowledge. Misuse of the information contained within this FAQ
is not the responsibility of the author (though he's pretty confused exactly
how you could misuse this information). Copyright 1999, Tim Skirvin, all
rights reserved, <FISH><, fnord, furrfu.]

I. The Basics
1. What is Godwin's Law?

Godwin's Law is a natural law of Usenet named after Mike Godwin
() concerning Usenet "discussions". It reads, according to
the Jargon File:

As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison
involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.

2. What does it mean?

It pretty much means exactly what it says - as a Usenet thread
goes on, the chances of somebody or something being compared to a Nazi
approach one.

3. Yes, but what does it *mean*?

Aah, now *there's* the real question.

In case your head has been buried in the sand for the last sixty
years or so, the Nazis were a German political party lead by Adolf Hitler
that slaughtered upwards of ten-million people that didn't meet their
standards of "ethnic purity" and set off to conquer Europe and the world
in World War II. They are generally considered the most evil group of
people to live in modern times, and to compare something or someone to
them is usually considered the gravest insult imaginable.

As a Usenet discussion gets longer it tends to get more heated; as
more heat enters the discussion, tensions get higher and people start to
insult each other over anything they can think of. Godwin's Law merely
notes that, eventually, those tensions eventually cause someone to find
the worst insults that come to mind - which will almost always include a
Nazi comparison.

4. That still doesn't answer my question. What does it *MEAN*?

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.

5. So - *WHAT DOES IT MEAN*?

Fine, fine - it means that somebody's eventually going to say
something about the Nazis in any thread that lasts very long. When it
happens, the thread is going to start either degenerating into a long
flamewar over Nazi Germany or about Godwin's Law. Either way, the thread
is effectively over, and you can safely killfile the thread a
Click to expand...

--
zar 2k3 - ULC Reverend
Certified Word Police Officer - Details Detail
http://www.geocities.com/spamresources/spambots.htm
http://www.drcnet.org/ http://www.abovegod.com/
NuMbEr Tr3#3!!!!11! on a lits...

"A man, a plan, a canoe, pasta, heros, rajahs,
a coloratura, maps, snipe, percale, macaroni,
a gag, a banana bag, a tan, a tag, a banana bag
again (or a camel), a crepe, pins, Spam, a rut,
a Rolo, cash, a jar, sore hats, a peon, a canal
- Panama!"

- Guy Steele Jr., CLTL2

"Today marks the third annual Systems Administrator Appreciation Day"

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