You must be new to the internet :-) In the days of olde, when computers were half as fast as they are today [...] and people didn't use web forums, but Usenet f

You must be new to the internet :-) In the days of olde, when computers were half as fast as they are today [...] and people didn't use web forums, but Usenet for debate, Mike Godwin observed that the longer the discussion, the more likely it was that someone called someone else a "nazi" (but not a "watermelon"), and that afterwards the discussion devolved into name-calling. Godwin's Law (as in "natural law", not "legal law", although some people don't get this) is the result of that observation. It's an early "meme" if you will.