1. Locating terrorist training camps by high voltage power lines visible in the background.
2. Shia LeBeouf's IRL Super Capture the Flag, "He Will Not Divide Us," located and vandalized no less than 5 times. The last one used astronavigation principles, and visible contrails from airplane traffic.
3. Identifying muggers in crowds based on nothing more than biking gear and facial hair.
The one thing these had in common, was a sustained call for effort. By keeping the limited original details available and obvious, people in every timezone and demographic could view them. This greatly increases the odds of specialist knowledge or community insiders being able to add information to the detail, which goes back to the general audience, forming an action feedback loop.
Amatuer hour indeed, but when you have 10000 random people you get results pretty quick.