Möller's Law

(English) This is an essay. It expresses the opinions and ideas of some Wikimedians but may not have wide support. This is not policy on Meta, but it may be a policy or guideline on other Wikimedia projects. Feel free to update this page as needed, or use the discussion page to propose major changes.

Möller's law is an internet adage that deals with issues of conversations on gender and language. The text of the law is as follows:

As a gender discussion continues, the probability that an appeal for the use of Spivak pronouns will occur approaches one. At such a point, the discussion is forfeited and must cease on the spot.

Spivak pronouns (and sie and hir as well) are seen by some as a sort of straw man for gender and language discussions. Since they are such highly contentious constructions, bringing them into the argument is considered a faux pas unless the discussion originally intended to discuss gender pronouns in language.

The law was coined July 18, 2003, on the WikiEN-l mailing list, following this thread. Its name was taken from Erik Möller. It's commonly spelled either Möller or Moeller; on the other hand, Moller's law is a misspelling used on the mailing list. Compare Godwin's Law, which this is designed to be analogous towards.