Formosa's law

Formosa's law is an unofficial rule of Usenet groups, coined by David Formosa, that states, "The truly insane have enough on their plates without us adding to it." That is, flaming someone with an obvious mental problem can't make it any better. Formosa first came up with this rule for the net abuse newsgroups, which had many trolls and spammers, but also many people who got into trouble for not understanding or being able to deal with others effectively.

It is common, both on the Internet and in real life, to seek amusement by ridiculing people who spout bogus nonsense or engage in silly behavior, on the basis that they have effectively invited this ridicule by their own overt behavior, usually some combination of stupidity, hypocrisy, and pomposity, but in any case behavior that they presumably have control over. However, in some cases, the behavior is the result of actual mental illness or dysfunction, rather than mere boneheadedness or intentional misconduct. Formosa's law states that if someone's weird behavior is caused by an actual pathology, it is inappropriate for others to increase their suffering by adding ridicule. Instead, ridicule should be reserved for people who know better than to engage in their improper conduct.

This law is most often used as an explanation for not engaging a legitimately mentally-disturbed individual in a flamewar or hostile discussion, or encouraging such actions. It is often cited on alt.usenet.kooks as a reason not to issue a "Kook-of-the-Month Award", and is also often cited as a companion to Godwin's Law.

External links

* [http://www.catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/F/Formosas-Law.html The Jargon File entry for Formosa's Law]