The inner workings of Wikipedia (Interview)

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Let’s hear how Wikipedia actually works from long-time Wikipedian, Bill Beutler! Bill has been heavily involved with this “8th wonder of the modern world” for two decades and even built a career on it, founding Beutler Ink –a digital agency known for its pioneering work in Wikipedia public relations.

We discuss: the official (and not so official) rules, the editor cabal (which isn’t one), the business model (which really isn’t one), how an edit sticks (or not), how AI chatbots threaten the future of the site (or don’t), and a whole lot more.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members get a bonus 7 minutes at the end of this episode and zero ads. Join today!

Sponsors:

• Tiger Data – Postgres for Developers, devices, and agents The data platform trusted by hundreds of thousands from IoT to Web3 to AI and more.
• Augment Code – Developer AI that uses deep understanding of your large codebase and how you build software to deliver personalized code suggestions and insights. Augment provides relevant, contextualized code right in your IDE or Slack. It transforms scattered knowledge into code or answers, eliminating time spent searching docs or interrupting teammates.
• Depot – 10x faster builds? Yes please. Build faster. Waste less time. Accelerate Docker image builds, and GitHub Actions workflows. Easily integrate with your existing CI provider and dev workflows to save hours of build time.
• Framer – Design and publish in one place. Get started free at framer.com/design, code CHANGELOG for a free month of Pro.

Featuring:

• Bill Beutler – Website, LinkedIn, X
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

• There Is No Cabal
• Beutler Ink
• The Notability Company
• Eugen Rochko

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Luvut

1. Welcome to The Changelog (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Tiger Data (00:01:22)

https://www.tigerdata.com

3. Start the show! (00:02:59)

4. A Wikipedian (00:04:26)

5. Policies and guidelines (00:08:03)

6. Wikipedia PR (00:11:48)

7. How much is too much (00:16:17)

8. There Is No Cabal (00:17:38)

9. Consultipedia (00:21:23)

10. Political leanings (00:23:55)

11. The 6th pillar (00:28:36)

12. Sponsor: Augment Code (00:31:21)

https://www.augmentcode.com

13. AI reads the wiki (00:32:57)

14. Jerod's failed edits (00:38:47)

15. Please donate (00:40:42)

16. The next generation (00:46:23)

17. More than a job (00:49:31)

18. Verifiability (00:50:11)

19. Sponsor: Depot (00:57:15)

https://depot.dev

20. Sponsor: Framer (01:00:01)

https://www.framer.com/design/

21. Bill's failed edits (01:01:52)

22. Adam clicks twice (01:02:54)

23. Bro, do you even wiki? (01:06:04)

24. Open edit requests (01:08:22)

25. Edit bait (01:09:37)

26. Bad actors (01:10:36)

27. How a page is born (01:13:15)

28. Wiki PR cabal (01:16:41)

29. Wikinomics (01:18:32)

30. The Notability Company (01:24:52)

31. Earned media (01:30:18)

32. Jerod finds a falsehood (01:35:35)

33. Bill throws us an edit (01:39:07)

34. Bad source beats no source (01:41:58)

35. Wrapping up (01:45:12)

36. Closing thoughts (join ++) (01:47:07)

https://changelog.com/++