contentious.com

(Don’t miss the next update in this unfolding story…)

IMPORTANT UPDATE: When I originally made this posting, I based it on an error. I thought Panasonic had deleted some content which they actually hadn’t. (Details below.) I’ve corrected that error, and I apologize to my readers and Panasonic for that error. I’ve modified the headline for this posting accordingly but left the URL intact to honor inbound links. I still think this character blog represents a deeply flawed approach, although I’m not categorically averse to character blogs.

(And here’s Another update, Oct. 31)

Read the corrected post…

Just a heads-up: Since I posted earlier today about the likely fictional nature of the “blogger” allegedly authoring Panasonic’s slick new blog DefPerception, Panasonic appears to be backpedaling – at least judging by what’s been happening on that weblog today…

Here’s what’s happened:

CORRECTION: I was wrong about the first item in my list, and had I realized this last night I would not have made this followup posting. However, I’ll leave my error up for the record. As Doug points out in his comment to my original posting on this topic (thanks Doug!), the biographical content I mentioned is under “About Tosh.” My apologies to Panasonic for this error.

To explain, I made this error because I got confused about which page I was on in Panasonic’s blog, thanks to the strange way DefPerception handles URLs: Unless you make a special effort to open this blog’s pages in a new browser tab, they all appear to have the same URL, that of the home page. This is, by the way, a fairly counterproductive strategy if you desire inbound links.

1. Someone drastically re-edited this post to remove what was presented as “Tosh Bilowski’s” personal background – including that he had an Indian mother and a Polish father, and his tale of how he wound up working in video. That information was replaced with shorter, low-key content, including actual “wink-wink” remarks, implying that Bilowski is, in fact, a fictional character. There is no acknowledgement of this change, not surprisingly.
2. A few comments have been added, which focus on technical information only. The names of the comment authors link to e-mail addresses, not URLs – unlike every weblog I can recall. However, in “Tosh’s” responses, “his” name links to the URL of the weblog home page. Oh, that’s great for conversation.
3. Without explanation, my comment (submitted through that weblog this morning), in which I inquired whether “Tosh” is fictional, has never been published.

Hmmmm, yeah I think someone at Panasonic (or their PR/ad agency) probably yelled “Ooops!” today…

I don’t blame them for not fessing up. That’s a very difficult thing to do in a large corporate bureaucracy. Still, though, this squirming is fun to watch.

(Read the first posting in this unfolding story…)