Pastebin
Encyclopedia
A pastebin is a type of web application
that allows its users to upload snippets of text, usually samples of source code
, for public viewing. It is very popular in IRC
channels where pasting large amounts of text is considered bad etiquette. A new trend is that users use Pastebin to post Twitter
messages that contain more than a 140 chars. A vast number of pastebins exist on the Internet, suiting a number of different needs and providing features tailored towards the crowd they focus on most.
After 8 years, Pastebin surpassed 10 million "Active" Pastes (not spam or expired pastes).
URL
that contains the body of text. A pastebin often has the capability to apply formatting and syntax highlighting
to the text for easier viewing. Throughout the years, the number of languages and formatting styles has grown quickly as the Pastebin user base has grown and their needs have fanned out. A well-known highlighting software package called GeSHi supports the most common pastebins. Some of the newer pastebins provide features for comparing two or more pastes, synchronous notifications through IRC
or XMPP
, paste histories, encryption
, password protection, and virtual subdomain
s. Nowadays, created pastebins allows pasted codes to be executed at server side.
passwords as part of a phishing
scheme led Paul Dixon, the operator of the original pastebin.com to temporarily close the site with the following message: "Pastebin.com was intended as a tool to aid software developers, not for distributing this sort of material. Filters have been put in place to prevent reoccurrence, but the current traffic level is unsustainable. Pastebin.com is just a fun side project for me, and today it's not fun. It will remain offline all day while I make some further modifications."
In 2010, Pastebin.com was sold to Jeroen Vader. In May and June 2011, Pastebin.com received what has been called "its biggest traffic in its nine year history" when it was used by hacker group LulzSec
to post information connected to several of its attacks.
Spam is a large problem. For the same reasons that open up the pastebins to abuse, they are easy to spam. The spambot
s or spammers involved in this sort of activity may not realize that most pastebins do not allow search engine
s to index their pages or even follow the links. This causes an extra burden on the services to provide filtering of pastes which would not accomplish the intended goal. To protect against spam, some pastebins have implemented CAPTCHA
s.
services like Twitter
. The idea is to save a large piece of text in a pastebin and post the URL and text excerpt to microblogging services that have character limitations.
Web application
A web application is an application that is accessed over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. The term may also mean a computer software application that is coded in a browser-supported language and reliant on a common web browser to render the application executable.Web applications are...
that allows its users to upload snippets of text, usually samples of source code
Source code
In computer science, source code is text written using the format and syntax of the programming language that it is being written in. Such a language is specially designed to facilitate the work of computer programmers, who specify the actions to be performed by a computer mostly by writing source...
, for public viewing. It is very popular in IRC
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
channels where pasting large amounts of text is considered bad etiquette. A new trend is that users use Pastebin to post Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
messages that contain more than a 140 chars. A vast number of pastebins exist on the Internet, suiting a number of different needs and providing features tailored towards the crowd they focus on most.
History
Pastebins similar to the ones referenced in this article have been around since at least 2002. Pastebin.com is the biggest and also one of the earliest public pastebins. Over time, many of the public pastebins have become specialized and targeted at a single group of users. This benefits the users by letting them share code or text in a consistent and clean manner. In many cases, pastes made to pastebins are kept only for some time, usually a month. Some, however, allow for varying lengths of time anywhere from one minute to an infinite amount of time.After 8 years, Pastebin surpassed 10 million "Active" Pastes (not spam or expired pastes).
Pastebin Desktop Software
Pastebin.com has launched Pastebin Desktop software for Windows operating systems. This piece of software allows users to create and manage their pastes directly from their desktop. This software has proven quite popular with programmers who want to store small code sniplets. This program has been developed by Lekë Dobruna.Common features
Although there are literally hundreds of pastebins available, most have a common set of features. They may appear different or target a different user base, but at the core, they take an upload or text paste and provide a sharable HTTPHypertext Transfer Protocol
The Hypertext Transfer Protocol is a networking protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web....
URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
that contains the body of text. A pastebin often has the capability to apply formatting and syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
to the text for easier viewing. Throughout the years, the number of languages and formatting styles has grown quickly as the Pastebin user base has grown and their needs have fanned out. A well-known highlighting software package called GeSHi supports the most common pastebins. Some of the newer pastebins provide features for comparing two or more pastes, synchronous notifications through IRC
Internet Relay Chat
Internet Relay Chat is a protocol for real-time Internet text messaging or synchronous conferencing. It is mainly designed for group communication in discussion forums, called channels, but also allows one-to-one communication via private message as well as chat and data transfer, including file...
or XMPP
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence...
, paste histories, encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
, password protection, and virtual subdomain
Subdomain
In the Domain Name System hierarchy, a subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain.- Overview :The Domain Name System has a tree structure or hierarchy, with each node on the tree being a domain name. A subdomain is a domain that is part of a larger domain, the only domain that is not...
s. Nowadays, created pastebins allows pasted codes to be executed at server side.
Abuse and spam
In some cases, pastebin sites have been abused as a venue in which to post personal information, such as passwords or identifiers. In one such incident, media coverage of abusive postings of approximately 20,000 HotmailHotmail
Windows Live Hotmail, formerly known as MSN Hotmail and commonly referred to simply as Hotmail, is a free web-based email service operated by Microsoft as part of its Windows Live group. It was founded by Sabeer Bhatia and Jack Smith and launched in July 1996 as "HoTMaiL". It was one of the first...
passwords as part of a phishing
Phishing
Phishing is a way of attempting to acquire information such as usernames, passwords, and credit card details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. Communications purporting to be from popular social web sites, auction sites, online payment processors or IT...
scheme led Paul Dixon, the operator of the original pastebin.com to temporarily close the site with the following message: "Pastebin.com was intended as a tool to aid software developers, not for distributing this sort of material. Filters have been put in place to prevent reoccurrence, but the current traffic level is unsustainable. Pastebin.com is just a fun side project for me, and today it's not fun. It will remain offline all day while I make some further modifications."
In 2010, Pastebin.com was sold to Jeroen Vader. In May and June 2011, Pastebin.com received what has been called "its biggest traffic in its nine year history" when it was used by hacker group LulzSec
LulzSec
Lulz Security, commonly abbreviated as LulzSec, is a computer hacker group that claims responsibility for several high profile attacks, including the compromise of user accounts from Sony Pictures in 2011. The group also claimed responsibility for taking the CIA website offline...
to post information connected to several of its attacks.
Spam is a large problem. For the same reasons that open up the pastebins to abuse, they are easy to spam. The spambot
Spambot
A spambot is an automated computer program designed to assist in the sending of spam. Spambots usually create fake accounts and send spam using them, although it would be obvious that a spambot is sending it...
s or spammers involved in this sort of activity may not realize that most pastebins do not allow search engine
Search engine
A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...
s to index their pages or even follow the links. This causes an extra burden on the services to provide filtering of pastes which would not accomplish the intended goal. To protect against spam, some pastebins have implemented CAPTCHA
CAPTCHA
A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing as an attempt to ensure that the response is generated by a person. The process usually involves one computer asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade...
s.
Applications in microblogging
There are some pastebins that exist specifically to surpass character limitations of microbloggingMicroblogging
Microblogging is a broadcast medium in the form of blogging. A microblog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregate file size...
services like Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
. The idea is to save a large piece of text in a pastebin and post the URL and text excerpt to microblogging services that have character limitations.