Mister Wong is social bookmarking tool originating from Germany that recently launched a beta version in the United States. They're positioning it to be a direct competitor to del.icio.us. So, the big question... why the hell is it called "Mr. Wong"? I have no idea, but the German site is apparently Europe's largest social bookmarking portal. I originally heard about this site several months ago, when people started calling attention to the little man in the logo, this balding, squinty-eyed Asian man (presumably Mister Wong). What's up with the racist caricature? Honestly, who came up with this idea? All you need is buck-teeth.
The German site used to have this guy plastered all over the place, but it seems they've removed the icon from most of the site now. (Did they receive a lot of complaints?) You can still see it here. Seriously though. What is up with the name? I can't read German, and maybe there's a perfectly good explanation somewhere on the site. But it's just plain weird. No wait, it's gets weirder: Mister Wong has a Chinese site.
UPDATE: According to this interview, the name "Mr. Wong" was apparently an arbitrary, random choice by the site's founder:
Before we started Mister Wong, we thought on the name “Allista“. But then our founder Kai Tietjen had the sudden impression on “Mister Wong”. Everyone in our Team was happy with that name and when our Designer finished the illustration we were absolutely sure that it was a good idea Mister Wong knows how to organize, is friendly, discreet and polite, and always has a good advice where to find the right information.That's lame. By the way Kai Tietjen is not an Asian guy.
