The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source · Changelog Media

The inner workings of Wikipedia (Interview)

November 26, 2025·1 hr 49 min·5 clips

Bill Buechler explains the hidden Wikipedia rule 'NOT HERE' that editors use to flag users not here to build an encyclopedia.

The conversation starts with Wikipedia's odd little operating system. Jared sets up Bill Buechler as a two-decade Wikipedian who turned that long familiarity into Buechler Inc, a digital agency known for early Wikipedia public relations work. Bill walks through the official rules, the unofficial ones, the so-called editor cabal that he says is not really a cabal, and the plain question every casual editor has wondered about: why does one edit survive while another gets wiped away? Then the money question takes over. Bill says Jimmy Wales is unusual among founders of top ten global websites because Wikipedia did not make him a many-times-over billionaire. In Bill's view, that matters. Ads or a for-profit version would have changed the mood of the whole place, and probably would have made contributors feel less like they were pooling knowledge for everyone. The free thing stayed alive because it stayed free. Still, Bill is careful around the edges. Wikimedia Enterprise does charge for a professional version of the Wikimedia API, with reliability promises and an SLA. He knows that lane personally, since Wikimedia Enterprise was a one-time client a few years ago, while his firm still uses the regular Wikipedia API for monitoring software it built and maintains. The free API sounds rough around the edges. Bill calls it unwieldy, but he still treats Wikipedia's knowledge as useful, open, and a little untamed. AI brings the newest strain. Bill says the foundation got annoyed when big AI companies crawled pages hard enough to eat server time. The response, as he describes it, was not to lock the gates. Cleaned-up versions were aimed at those companies and offered for free, while the main Wikipedia product stayed off the paid-product path. The episode wraps with Changelog Plus Plus, sponsor thanks, and a pointer to a Friday chat about Elixir, Nerves, home automation, and Karate Kid.

As heard by us

A clear look at Wikipedia as volunteer culture, public utility, and strained web infrastructure.

Wikipedia comes through as living infrastructure: a public knowledge system held together by volunteers, norms, APIs, and deliberate restraint.

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Why you'd press play

You have relied on Wikipedia for decades. Here is what has actually been keeping it alive.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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