# Poe's Second Law **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 26, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000 "2009-11-26T04:05:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/1 "2009-11-26T04:05:31Z")
As most Internet regulars are aware, there are a set of tongue-in-cheek “laws” pronounced by regulars on message boards and the like, such as Godwin’s Law, promulgtated by Mike Godwin in 1990: “As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1.” Our very own **Gaudere** produced her law in 2000 [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=41684). Netizen **Nathan Poe** similarly came up with Poe’s Law, which states: “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing." I participated in a thread at Christian Forums in which Nathan Poe came up with his Second Law: “Poe’s Second Law: The amount of punctuation at the end of a post is directly proportional to the level of hysterics – and inversely proportional to the number of facts.” [Source here.](http://www.christianforums.com/t7418576-5/#post53590677) Just keeping people informed… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/2 "2009-11-26T04:22:36Z")
I’d say something about your thread title, but there’s no way to do so without invoking Gaudere’s Law. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/3 "2009-11-26T04:33:56Z")
> [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](#): > > I’d say something about your thread title, but there’s no way to do so without invoking Gaudere’s Law. Just for anyone who’s wondering what the heck **It’s Not Rocket Surgery!** is talking about: The original title of this thread was, “Poe’s Secpmd Law,” but **Marley** fixed it for the OP. **It’s Not Rocket Surgery!**'s post came before that fix. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/4 "2009-11-26T04:55:47Z")
Thanks, **Marley** and **Wombat**. I have issues with vision at present; all help in reporting typoes and such is appreciated. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/5 "2009-11-26T04:59:25Z")
I wasn’t sure if it was humor or a typo, so I’m glad I at least guessed right. ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/6 "2009-11-26T05:06:29Z")
Check out [The Poe Paradox](http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Poe%27s_Law#Poe_paradox) - it is too tooo wonderful. ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/7 "2009-11-26T15:53:24Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Thanks, **Marley** and **Wombat**. I have issues with vision at present; all help in reporting typoes and such is appreciated. 🙂 Well, I apologize! I’d glad I didn’t get smarmy! ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/8 "2009-11-26T16:27:50Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Netizen **Nathan Poe** similarly came up with Poe’s Law, which states: “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing." I’m kind of annoyed about this whole Poe’s Law thing, because I was attempting to get a very similar law (“Lamia’s Law”) recognized [several years earlier](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=2972195&postcount=52): > [@Lamia](#): > > Long ago on another forum I invented a rule I modestly called “Lamia’s Law”, holding that there is nothing you could possibly say online that is so obviously wrongheaded, stupid, offensive, or dangerous that you can expect that all readers will know you don’t mean it literally, because someone somewhere else online has already said the same thing and meant it. I still think mine is better, because it doesn’t limit things to Fundamentalism. Fundamentalists are far from the only nutty people on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/9 "2009-11-26T16:27:53Z")
I can’t vouch for the veracity, but [this guy claims to be THE Nathan Poe.](http://www.freeratio.org/showthread.php?t=277555) Talk about your synchronicity; I was just browsing Free Ratio and saw the thread there, and went, “Hey - didn’t I just see something about Poe’s Law on the Dope?” ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/10 "2009-11-26T16:48:07Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > typoes Typos. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/11 "2009-11-28T00:33:33Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Typos. You only think you’ve evaded Gaudere’s Law, **jjimm**!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/12 "2009-11-28T10:16:15Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > You only think you’ve evaded Gaudere’s Law, **jjimm**!! 😃 I’m too vigilant. **Gaudere** will never catch up withme. ---
**Author:** ![QuercusMax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/8baadc/32.png) [@QuercusMax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuercusMax)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/13 "2009-11-28T12:59:57Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I’m too vigilant. **Gaudere** will never catch up withme. Hmm… I think **Gaudere** was just waiting for you to slip up… can we get a ruling here? ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/poes-second-law/519000/14 "2009-11-28T13:25:25Z")
Can you here that whoshing sound? 😉