diff --git a/pipelines/songs/render.py b/pipelines/songs/render.py
index 3f823be..c7dfc44 100644
--- a/pipelines/songs/render.py
+++ b/pipelines/songs/render.py
@@ -20,10 +20,7 @@ def validate(fm: dict, path: Path) -> None:
         if not val or not str(val).strip():
             errors.append(f"missing or empty '{field}'")
 
-    wiki = fm.get("wiki")
-    if not isinstance(wiki, dict) or "publish" not in wiki:
-        errors.append("missing 'wiki.publish'")
-    elif not isinstance(wiki["publish"], bool):
+    if not isinstance(fm.get("wiki", {}).get("publish"), bool):
         errors.append("'wiki.publish' must be a boolean (true/false), not a string")
 
     if "release_date" in fm and fm["release_date"]:
@@ -80,12 +77,8 @@ def connect_wiki() -> mwclient.Site:
 
 
 def publish_one(rel: Path, post, site: mwclient.Site, source_ref: str, gitea_repo_url: str) -> str:
-    """Returns 'published', 'noop', or 'skipped'."""
+    """Returns 'published' or 'noop'."""
     fm = post.metadata
-
-    if not fm["wiki"]["publish"]:
-        return "skipped"
-
     body_wikitext = markdown_to_wikitext(strip_first_h1(post.content))
     source_url = f"{gitea_repo_url}/src/commit/{source_ref}/{rel}"
     page_content = build_wikitext(fm, body_wikitext, source_url, source_ref)
@@ -109,16 +102,19 @@ def load_and_validate(files: list[Path], source_dir: Path) -> dict[Path, object]
             continue
 
         post = frontmatter.load(str(path))
+
+        wiki = post.metadata.get("wiki")
+        if not isinstance(wiki, dict) or not wiki.get("publish"):
+            continue
+
         validate(post.metadata, path)
 
-        if post.metadata["wiki"]["publish"]:
-            title = str(post.metadata["title"])
-            if title in titles:
-                raise ValueError(
-                    f"Duplicate wiki title '{title}': {path} and {titles[title]}"
-                )
-            titles[title] = path
-
+        title = str(post.metadata["title"])
+        if title in titles:
+            raise ValueError(
+                f"Duplicate wiki title '{title}': {path} and {titles[title]}"
+            )
+        titles[title] = path
         posts[path] = post
 
     return posts
@@ -161,18 +157,14 @@ def main() -> None:
 
     site = connect_wiki()
 
-    counts = {"published": 0, "noop": 0, "skipped": 0}
+    counts = {"published": 0, "noop": 0}
     for abs_path, post in posts.items():
         rel = abs_path.relative_to(source_dir)
         outcome = publish_one(rel, post, site, source_ref, gitea_repo_url)
         counts[outcome] += 1
         print(f"  [{outcome}] {rel}")
 
-    print(
-        f"\nDone: {counts['published']} published, "
-        f"{counts['noop']} unchanged, "
-        f"{counts['skipped']} skipped (wiki.publish=false)."
-    )
+    print(f"\nDone: {counts['published']} published, {counts['noop']} unchanged.")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":