Netiquette 101: Rule # 3 - "Toto...I don't think we're in Kansas anymore!"

In this part of the ongoing series on Netiquette, we will discuss Rule #3, "Know Where You are in Cyberspace."  We briefly discussed in the last post that we are not all hatched from under the same rock and not all of those rocks are equal. Take for instance this example:

"The Japanese company Matsushita Electric was promoting a new Japanese PC for internet users. Panasonic created the new web browser and had received license to use the cartoon character Woody Woodpecker as an interactive internet guide. 


The day before the huge marketing campaign, Panasonic realised its error and pulled the plug. Why? The ads for the new product featured the following slogan:
 
 "Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker." The company only realised its cross cultural blunder when an embarrassed American explain what "touch Woody's pecker" could be interpreted as!"

It would have been a horrible marketing blunder but since I've never heard this web browser here in the states, maybe Matsushita (Panasonic) should have used "Touch Woody - The Internet Pecker."

The basic rule here is to "Lurk Before You Leap", hang around in a forum or blog and read more before you drop any responses or comments.  Ignorance is never bliss.