Pastebin 0.50 released – with expiry control

Pastebin was conceived as a way to post code into an IRC or IM conversation, so the post itself was thought to be quite ephemeral. Therefore, the database didn’t retain posts for very long. However, this has surprised some users, who expected a little more permanence.

I’ve rectified this in v0.50. There are three options to suit various users

  • expiry in a day – great for IRC or IM, where the post will be read pretty much immediately and then fall out of use
  • expire in a month – great for exploring code ideas or problems via email
  • never expire – the post lives forever. This is really for retaining code snippets you want to share with others.

I’m going to add more features that will make pastebin more useful for long term storage of code snippets, watch this space!

Download GPL’d source code, or just play with it at pastebin.com

OpenStreetMap to map the Isle of Wight

The OpenStreetMap project is going to map the Isle of Wight this weekend, using hundreds of volunteers simply recording a tracklog with their GPS units.

This is fantastic, and it will be interesting to see how successful such an effort is. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from Geograph, it’s that if you can attract even a small dedicated band of contributors, there’s no end to what can be achieved.

I hope the event is a success, it would be great to see local events springing up. On the geograph site we have the concept of “geograph points” awarded to the first person who contributes a suitable image for a grid square. This has worked tremendously well in encouraging coverage, as well as friendly rivalry between contributors. Something similar might work in OpenStreetMap’s favour, maybe tracking people by distance covered in their tracklogs, or points for completing a particular motorway or A road…