Godwin’s law was first formulated in 1990 by Mike Godwin. It reads:
“As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one.”
In plain English: Sooner or later in a discussion, someone is going to compare something to either Hitler or Nazi Germany.
A very popular addon to this rule is that whoever makes the Nazi/Hitler-comparison automatically forfeits the argument in favor of his or hers opponent.
And who is this Godwin?
The problem with the application of Godwin’s Law is that it usually ignores the fact that there are times when comparisons to Hitler and Nazis are legitimate.