The charge of Nazism has a long and odd history in the online community realm. One of the most famous aphorisms from earlier Internet discussion groups is Godwin’s Law of Nazi Analogies: “As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”1 Godwin’s Law speaks to a tendency of online participants to think the worst of one another. So much so, that the epigraph at the beginning of this chapter, J. S.’s Second Law, implies that if you haven’t been called a Nazi, you simply haven’t been active enough on Wikipedia.2
Godwin, Mike. “Meme, Counter-Meme”. Wired 2, number 10 (October 1994). http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/2.10/godwin.if_pr.html (visited on August 24, 2006).
Wikipedia. “User:Raul654/Raul’s Laws”. Wikipedia. July 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/?oldid=301373968 (visited on July 20, 2009).