It's really, really disturbing that today Google is listing stories about Virginia Tech killer under "Entertainment." What in the world are you thinking?
i agree... who at google decided that this event should be classified along with Sanjaya's dismissal from Amercian Idol? hmmm.... biggest shooting in US History... guy losing a karaoke contest... yeah that's the same level.
or is it true that real life tragedies have become a form of entertainment for the mindless masses?
nahhh... how about we just say that Google royally screwed up and whomever is responsible for that should start posting their resume on Monster.com.
> It's really, really disturbing that today Google is listing stories > about Virginia Tech killer under "Entertainment." What in the world > are you thinking?
It's just an automated algorithm, I contacted them, not that they are likely to read the complaint this month and got an automated response saying that stories are just grouped by the search engine. Effectively anyway. Might as well read it yourself:-
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an automated reply to your message about incorrectly grouped stories in Google News. Because Google News is compiled solely by computer algorithms, articles may occasionally appear in the wrong section or cluster. We're working to improve our technology, and the information you've provided will help us do this.
To further assist our users, we've created a Google News Help Center, where you can search or browse all of our available support information. Our Help Center is located at http://www.google.com/support/news/
Thank you for posting the reason for this issue. I have to say that I found the classification as "entertainment" fairly offensive, it's good to know it's just the computers. I also appreciate you letting your vendor know about the complaint.
> It's just an automated algorithm, I contacted them, not that they are > likely to read the complaint this month and got an automated response > saying that stories are just grouped by the search engine. Effectively > anyway. Might as well read it yourself:-
> Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an automated > reply > to your message about incorrectly grouped stories in Google News. > Because > Google News is compiled solely by computer algorithms, articles may > occasionally appear in the wrong section or cluster. We're working to > improve our technology, and the information you've provided will help > us > do this.
> To further assist our users, we've created a Google News Help Center, > where you can search or browse all of our available support > information. > Our Help Center is located athttp://www.google.com/support/news/
Yes, thanks for posting that. I am still a bit shocked that they're letting it stand--hard to believe there is no kind of override at all. It's so profoundly creepy and disrespectful.
> Thank you for posting the reason for this issue. I have to say that I > found the classification as "entertainment" fairly offensive, it's > good to know it's just the computers. I also appreciate you letting > your vendor know about the complaint.
> Regards,
> Tacy Cass
> On Apr 19, 9:32 am, geordie wrote:
> > It's just an automated algorithm, I contacted them, not that they are > > likely to read the complaint this month and got an automated response > > saying that stories are just grouped by the search engine. Effectively > > anyway. Might as well read it yourself:-
> > Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an automated > > reply > > to your message about incorrectly grouped stories in Google News. > > Because > > Google News is compiled solely by computer algorithms, articles may > > occasionally appear in the wrong section or cluster. We're working to > > improve our technology, and the information you've provided will help > > us > > do this.
> > To further assist our users, we've created a Google News Help Center, > > where you can search or browse all of our available support > > information. > > Our Help Center is located athttp://www.google.com/support/news/
Thanks to everyone who reported this and to geordie for sharing the (correct) explanation. Being completely automated is a bit of a double- edged sword--no human can dictate what content appears on the homepage which means sometimes errors like this happen. The problem has been fixed, and stories about Virginia Tech should no longer appear in the Entertainment section.
I know how offensive a mistake like this can be, and I want you all to know that we took this error very seriously. Our hearts go out to the families and friends affected by this tragedy.
> Yes, thanks for posting that. I am still a bit shocked that they're > letting it stand--hard to believe there is no kind of override at all. > It's so profoundly creepy and disrespectful.
> On Apr 19, 1:25 pm, Tacy wrote:
> > Hello,
> > Thank you for posting the reason for this issue. I have to say that I > > found the classification as "entertainment" fairly offensive, it's > > good to know it's just the computers. I also appreciate you letting > > your vendor know about the complaint.
> > Regards,
> > Tacy Cass
> > On Apr 19, 9:32 am, geordie wrote:
> > > It's just an automated algorithm, I contacted them, not that they are > > > likely to read the complaint this month and got an automated response > > > saying that stories are just grouped by the search engine. Effectively > > > anyway. Might as well read it yourself:-
> > > Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is an automated > > > reply > > > to your message about incorrectly grouped stories in Google News. > > > Because > > > Google News is compiled solely by computer algorithms, articles may > > > occasionally appear in the wrong section or cluster. We're working to > > > improve our technology, and the information you've provided will help > > > us > > > do this.
> > > To further assist our users, we've created a Google News Help Center, > > > where you can search or browse all of our available support > > > information. > > > Our Help Center is located athttp://www.google.com/support/news/
To hazard a guess, the 'Entertainment' category is actually more of a 'Media and Entertainment' category, so any stories about the media coverage of VT will end up there. For instance, a story about whether NBC should have shown the videos would be a story about the media industry, and would get dumped into the poorly-named 'Entertainment' category.
It's not that Google thinks the VT stories are entertaining.
> It's really, really disturbing that today Google is listing stories > about Virginia Tech killer under "Entertainment." What in the world > are you thinking?
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