So it seems that wikipedia has lost its mojo; most postings now seem to be headlined with quality caveats that make it feel like they’ve been overrun by a swarm of lawyers. What I’m sure drove it’s appeal in the early days was that remarkable sense of collective wisdom that built up so fast; now they seem to be struggling to break through another threshold of quality, so powerfully demonstrated by their own disclaimers.

I guess they’ve also become victims of their own success; the Thierry Henry ambushing is pretty funny, but clearly leads to even more of the corporate crackdown behaviour that puts sincere contributors off. Maybe crowd sourcing isn’t a lasting phenomenon after all; undone by the spoilers and corporate killjoys in equal measure.

BTW, talking of things that have lost their mojo is seems that things at Apple are getting a little rotten. Take the new iPhone. It doesn’t work. It’s a great computer but it’s a useless phone. Did Apple realize this and ship the product anyway? As for their customer service the less said the better.

Of course there is a better explanation for all this. I remember some research ages ago saying that when a company made it onto the cover of a magazine it was usually a few months away from disaster. Equally, when a company was written about as “doomed” it was usually moments away from a recovery. Apple is currently sitting in the #1 spot as the “most admired company in America”. You do the math.

PS – Full disclosure. Wayde did the first half of these words. I liked them so much I stole them (with permission).