FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE EDITORS

WHAT INSPIRED THE NOVEL?

Wikipedia’s impact on society is undeniable, yet most people rarely consider the human beings who work on the project. Hidden behind their usernames and shrouded in anonymity, they are the unsung heroes of this virtual world.

So in my humble opinion, it’s the ideal set-up for a suspense novel because there are clear stakes and intrinsically interesting ingredients — an influential yet contested resource, concealed identities, and international intrigue.

WHAT WAS YOUR RESEARCH PROCESS FOR THE NOVEL?

I covered Wikipedia for several years as a journalist, including in the Source Notes column for Slate magazine. Through my journalism, I interviewed more than 100 real-life Wikipedia editors. When it came time to write the novel, I shared drafts of the story with more than a dozen Wikipedia editors, including a handful of Wikipedia administrators. I also interviewed two experts about data centers and information security at Amazon Web Services (AWS). My goal was to write a gripping story that included several realistic details.

INFOPENDIUM IN THE NOVEL IS A STAND-IN FOR WIKIPEDIA, CORRECT?

Not exactly. Wikipedia inspired some aspects of the story, but the fictionalized version of something is not a mirror representation.

Certain aspects of the (fictional) Infopendium are deliberately different than Wikipedia. For instance, Infopendium has distilled its policies into four key principles:

-AIM FOR NEUTRALITY

-WE NEED BETTER SOURCES

-ANONYMITY IS FUNDAMENTAL

-KEEP DEVELOPING.

These Infopendium policies do not exactly correspond to the five pillars of Wikipedia.

ARE THE CHARACTERS IN THE NOVEL BASED ON REAL PEOPLE?

No, not really. They are literary characters with their own wants and quirks. In some cases, characters are a composite of different behaviors that I’ve observed over the years. Resemblance to any specific individual is incidental.

OKAY, OKAY, BUT THE CHARACTER OF GERALD BUDD IN THE NOVEL IS BASED ON JIMMY WALES, RIGHT?

No, Gerald Budd is not based on Jimmy Wales.

Novels are about asking “What if?” questions and one of the questions that I asked is, What if the internet encyclopedia was founded by someone like Gerald Budd instead of Jimmy Wales? The character of Gerald has deep regrets in life. He feels like he missed his “big break” to profit from the web encyclopedia during the dot-com boom.

By contrast, Wales strikes me as deeply proud of Wikipedia and committed to maintaining the site’s nonprofit status. To his credit, Wales has repeatedly stated that Wikipedia is “not for sale.”

YOU HAVE A BACKGROUND IN JOURNALISM, SO WHY DID YOU WRITE THE EDITORS AS A NOVEL INSTEAD OF A NONFICTION BOOK ABOUT WIKIPEDIA?

I had both practical and psychological reasons for writing the book as fiction. First, there are something like 1500 active editors on English Wikipedia—a small amount considering how important the project is to world knowledge, but far too many people to feature in a true nonfiction account. I was also very mindful of not wanting to reveal the identities of any individuals who live in a country that has outlawed Wikipedia because their government is opposed to free speech.

But most importantly, I had this stubborn voice in my head saying: It’s a suspense novel. At first, I resisted that voice, but gradually I began to accept that the best way to tell this story was in the form of fiction. I realized I could still be honest without writing it as a historical document. As William Faulker said, “The best fiction is far more true than any journalism.”

SOME TERMINOLOGY ON INFOPENDIUM IS DIFFERENT THAN ON WIKIPEDIA…

Again, the fictionalized representation of something is not the same as its mirror image.

In some cases, I simplified the terminology to make it clearer to the reader what’s happening. For instance, I described characters in the novel “deleting” information from Infopendium. Similar edits on Wikipedia would be called “reverting.”

DID WIKIPIDIA EXPERIENCE SIGNIFICANT DOWNTIME DURING THE ONSET OF THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC?

Not to my knowledge.

IS ANY CHARACTER IN THE BOOK BASED ON ELON MUSK?

No, however, Elon Musk has taken issue with his Wikipedia page. For more info, see my March 2022 Slate article: The Controversy Brewing on Elon Musk’s Wikipedia Page.

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS AND PUBLISHING JOURNEY?

Definitely! I had a fun chat with journalist Taylor Dibbert about this, so I’d encourage you to read that piece.