Looks like the end of your comment (above) got mangled or cut off somehow — I’m not clear on what you’re saying I should have waited for.

I did try to contact Panasonic via comments to its blog, but no one there responded to me in any way.

As for “blaming” Panasonic, if you look at the corrected article I clarified that they did not, in fact, remove the content I thought had been deleted.

However, I do see, surprisingly often, that organizations or individuals simply remove or change content without acknowledging it.

I can totally understand why that happens, especially if the original content was inaccurate or presented legal or other risks. I can also understand if the goal of such editing is to assuage embarrassment or conceal missteps. No one likes to be embarrassed. Frankly, this morning I was embarrassed to learn that I was mistaken about whether Panasonic has quietly removed content from the blog. But as you see, I chose to eat crow on that and acknowledge and correct my error in a transparent way. We all take our lumps.

The surprising thing about online media is its persistence. If you put something online and it attracts questions, criticism, or ridicule in other venues such as other people’s blogs, or in discussion forums, then personally I think you’ll only do yourself more harm by trying to act like it never happened. Also, you must assume that somebody saved a copy of the source of your embarrassment. So just because you remove or correct it doesn’t mean there is no record. Ultimately, that can prove even more damaging.

- Amy Gahran
Editor, Contentious