View source for Pastebin

{{short description|Type of online content hosting service where users can store plain text}}{{Lead extra info|date=December 2021}}
{{More citations needed|date=December 2021}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{This|the type of web application|the website|Pastebin.com}}
A '''pastebin''' or '''text storage site'''<ref>{{cite web|last1= Robertson|first1= Adi|title= Pastebin Hiring People to Proactively Remove 'Sensitive Information,' Says Owner|url= https://www.theverge.com/2012/4/3/2922151/pastebin-hiring-people-to-proactively-remove-sensitive-information|publisher= The Verge|access-date= 19 February 2017|date= 3 April 2012|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170220093843/http://www.theverge.com/2012/4/3/2922151/pastebin-hiring-people-to-proactively-remove-sensitive-information|archive-date= February 20, 2017|df= mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1= Notopoulos|first1= Katie|title= Somebody's watching: how a simple exploit lets strangers tap into private security cameras|url= https://www.theverge.com/2012/2/3/2767453/trendnet-ip-camera-exploit-4chan|publisher= The Verge|access-date= 19 February 2017|date= 3 February 2012|url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170220093909/http://www.theverge.com/2012/2/3/2767453/trendnet-ip-camera-exploit-4chan|archive-date= February 20, 2017|df= mdy-all}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last= Cheok|first= Jacquelyn|title= First batch of personal data offenders slapped with fines, warnings|date= April 21, 2016|url= https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/first-batch-of-personal-data-offenders-slapped-with-fines-warnings|publisher= The Business Times|access-date= 19 February 2017 |url-status= live|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170220093409/http://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/first-batch-of-personal-data-offenders-slapped-with-fines-warnings|archive-date= February 20, 2017|df= mdy-all}}</ref> is a type of online content-hosting service where users can store [[plain text]] (e.g. [[source code]] [[snippet (programming)|snippets]] for [[code review]] via [[Internet Relay Chat]] (IRC)). The most famous pastebin is the eponymous [[pastebin.com]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pastebin.com - #1 paste tool since 2002! |url=https://pastebin.com/ |access-date=2025-09-09 |website=Pastebin.com}}</ref> Other sites with the same functionality have appeared, and several [[Open-source software|open source]] pastebin scripts are available. Pastebins may allow commenting where readers can post feedback directly on the page. [[GitHub]] Gists are a type of pastebin with [[version control]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Forking and cloning gists |url=https://docs.github.com/en/get-started/writing-on-github/editing-and-sharing-content-with-gists/forking-and-cloning-gists |access-date=2025-03-04 |website=GitHub Docs |language=en}}</ref>

==History==
Pastebin was developed in the late 1990s to facilitate IRC chatrooms devoted to [[computing]], where users naturally need to share large blocks of computer input or output in a line-oriented medium.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://thenextweb.com/news/pastebin-how-a-popular-code-sharing-site-became-the-ultimate-hacker-hangout|title=Pastebin: How a popular code-sharing site became the ultimate hacker hangout|last=Brian|first=Matt|date=4 June 2011|website=[[TNW (website)|TNW]]|publisher=[[Financial Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510042838/https://thenextweb.com/news/pastebin-how-a-popular-code-sharing-site-became-the-ultimate-hacker-hangout|archive-date=10 May 2023|url-status=live}}</ref> In such chatrooms, sending messages containing large blocks of computer data can disrupt conversations, which can be closely interleaved. When users send such messages, they are often warned to instead use pastebins or risk being banned from the service. Contrarily, a reference to a pastebin entry is a one-line hyperlink.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

A new class of [[IRC bot]] has evolved. In a chatroom that is largely oriented around a few pastebins, nothing more needs to be done after a post at its pastebin. The receiving party then awaits a [[IRC bot|bot]] announcing the expected posting by the known user.{{Citation needed|date=December 2024}}

After the use of the pastebin.pl pastebin for a [[data breach]], Pastebin started monitoring the site for illegally pasted data and information, leading to a backlash from [[Anonymous (group)|Anonymous]]. Hacktivists teamed up with an organization calling itself the People's Liberation Front, launching an alternative called AnonPaste.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.zdnet.com/article/pastebin-to-hunt-for-hacker-pastes-anonymous-cries-censorship/|title=Pastebin to hunt for hacker pastes, Anonymous cries censorship|last=Emil|first=Protalinski|date=4 April 2012|website=[[ZDNet]]|publisher=[[CBS Interactive]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150205153321/http://www.zdnet.com/article/pastebin-to-hunt-for-hacker-pastes-anonymous-cries-censorship/|archive-date=5 February 2015|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/01/07/morgan-stanley-data-leak-not-the-first-headache-for-pastebin/|title=Morgan Stanley Data Leak Not the First Headache for Pastebin|last=Sidel|first=Robin|date=7 January 2015|website=[[The Wall Street Journal]]|publisher=[[Dow Jones & Company]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161109181906/http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2015/01/07/morgan-stanley-data-leak-not-the-first-headache-for-pastebin/|archive-date=9 November 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Internet}}
* [[Doxbin (clearnet)]]
* [[Etiquette in technology#Netiquette|Netiquette]]
* [[Pastebin.com]]
* [[PrivateBin]]
* [[Snippet (programming)]]
* [[Text file]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Prone to spam|date=September 2012}}
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[[Category:File sharing]]
[[Category:File sharing services]]
[[Category:Web applications]]
[[Category:Web hosting]]
[[Category:Text]]