[WikiEN-l] Thousands of *awful* articles on websites

[charles.r.matthews at ntlworld.com]

Kurt Maxwell Weber wrote

> Tough shit.  The rest of us don't have to modify our behavior to satisfy the 
> irrational and capricious preferences of a few uptight jackasses.

See about that.

> > Furthermore Godwin's Law applies: call someone a Nazi, you LOSE the
> > argument.
> 
> What a wonderful example of your misundertanding of Godwin's law.
> 
> Godwin's law is, essentially: "As the length of an argument on 
> $ELECTRONICCOMMUNICATIONSMEDIUM continues, the probability of a comparison 
> involving Nazi Germany approaches one."
> 
> That's not the exact formulation, of course, but that's the gist of it.  
> Nothing about "losing" the argument.  Nor should there be.
> 
> Why?
> 
> Because there are times when comparisons with Nazi Germany are quite apt--such 
> as in the case you're having a shitfit about.

Right. So it really wasn't a Seinfeld allusion at all. It was suggesting that enforcement of policy on website articles is actually donning jackboots.

The reason that Godwin's Law has such a corollary (with Gresham's Law as applied to threaded discussion, which I thought everyone takes as read) is that once the Nazi comparison is made, the rational case for anything goes straight out the window. Whose fault? Quite obvious. 
> > I really don't think I'm the one who is maturity-challenged here.
 
> You're the one getting upset about stuff that doesn't matter...

Actually putting people in a pillory rather than explaining why you disagree with them matters a great deal. You are reading into my comments that "I'm upset". What I think, and am prepared to make an issue of, is the radical lack of civility being shown, to others rather than to me. 

Charles

-----------------------------------------
Email sent from www.ntlworld.com
Virus-checked using McAfee(R) Software 
Visit www.ntlworld.com/security for more information