In the pre-WMAP , pre-Supernova-Ia-Hubble-diagram era , quasar lensing statistics stubbornly indicated low values of \Omega _ { \Lambda } .
In contrast , a number of recent lensing statistics studies either find the data support the standard \Lambda CDM picture , or simply take the standard cosmological parameters as a given .
Have the data or the analyses changed or improved , and how ?
I review several of the “ historical ” and the more recent studies , and show that there is no particular measurement , assumption , or model parameter in the old studies that was grossly wrong .
Instead , at least several effects , operating together , are likely required in order to achieve agreement between the observations and the currently standard cosmology .
Most likely among these effects are : a somewhat lower lensing cross section for elliptical galaxies than assumed in the past ; some loss of lensed quasars in optical samples due to extinction by the lenses ; and a somewhat lower-than-standard value of \Omega _ { \Lambda } \sim 0.6 .
The agreement between recent model calculations and the results of radio lens surveys may be fortuitous , and due to a cancellation between the errors in the input parameters for the lens population and the cosmology , on the one hand , and for the source population , on the other hand .