To err is human

While the debate about human editors versus machines still rages, observers should note that Moreover.com filed the recent ZDNet story Opera: Microsoft is hurting our style under "Classical music news". I can well believe that these guys may know nothing about classical music, but you'd think their technological expertise would tell them that Opera is more than just an art form.

According to their web site:

Moreover's XML technology and proprietary rules-based categorization process ensure unrivaled quality of coverage and speed of delivery.

Unlike automatic statistical approaches to classification that are limited to 85% percent accuracy, Moreover's hybrid technology that combines automatic techniques and human editors guarantees near-perfect accuracy, continuously.

Near-perfect accuracy? Although you can't see it in the image above (click on the image for a larger view), the same mistake was repeated twice more with the same story from other sources. Someone needs to change the rule that references to "opera" should always be classified as classical music.