In 20 years el Reg has had several, well incarnations is too strong a word, but let's just say its nature has evolved. I think this is is pretty much the nature of any organization. The Lester Haines era (https://www.theregister.com/2016/06/16/lester_haines_obituar... ) was quite good -- I think his presence must have inspired others to creativity and lunacy in their prose. Orlowski was really really good but you can't do the same thing forever.
FWIW, lately I feel like it's been on an uptick.
Let's compare it to google which had a burst of activity and even inspiration at first and then lost its way after Schmidt stopped being CEO. OK, El Reg isn't one of the largest corporations in the world (well, at least they won't admit it and hide it well) but on this dimension I think it's done better than Google.
FWIW, lately I feel like it's been on an uptick.
Let's compare it to google which had a burst of activity and even inspiration at first and then lost its way after Schmidt stopped being CEO. OK, El Reg isn't one of the largest corporations in the world (well, at least they won't admit it and hide it well) but on this dimension I think it's done better than Google.