This refers to the adage that as the length of a discussion on the Internet increases, the chances of a participant comparing a fellow member to German dictator Adolf Hitler increase. The law states that such a comparison is almost sure to happen if the online discussion on a hot topic lasts for a sufficient amount of time. It is attributed to American attorney Mike Godwin, who used it to describe the nature of online discussions during the early days of the Internet. This is said to expose people’s tendency to associate their opponents with false figures when they have no rational counter to offer in an argument on the Net.
