Aditya Sorathiya

Posted on Sep 9

I Found a “Case Study” About My Open-Source Project — But Its Development History Didn't Match Reality

#opensource #webdev #showdev #discuss

I recently discovered an article about PasteDB, an open-source project I built.

At first, I was actually happy to see someone writing about the project.

Then I started reading it.
I found that several parts of the article described PasteDB's technology, development process, and history in ways that don't match the actual project.

The article

The article is titled:

“Crafting a Product in Three Months: The Journey of Building PasteDB”

Read the article

Several important details don't match the actual project.

1. The technology stack is incorrect

The article claims that PasteDB uses:

Flask
React.js
PostgreSQL
Heroku

It even provides a Flask/PostgreSQL code example as part of the supposed PasteDB development process.

However, that isn't the technology stack of my actual PasteDB project.

The real repository is here:

https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb

The repository and its history provide the actual implementation and development record.

2. The article describes a development process that wasn't mine

The article describes things such as:

specific development sprints
a Flask REST API
PostgreSQL models
React components
unit and integration testing
deployment to Heroku

These are presented as the development journey of PasteDB.

But they don't represent how I actually built the project.

The article's footer identifies the website as being designed and developed by its operator:

This is what surprised me the most.

It's one thing to write an article about an open-source project.

It's another thing to present a development history as the project's actual history when that history does not match the project's repository and documented development.

3. What PasteDB actually is

PasteDB is a developer-focused paste-sharing platform that I've been building from my own repository.

The project has evolved considerably over time.

Some of the things I've built include:

End-to-end encryption
Public, private and unlisted pastes
Expiration and burn-after-read options
Markdown and syntax highlighting
Image sharing
QR sharing
Nearby transfer
Search and Explore
Version history
REST API
Python/Node tooling
CLI
VS Code extension
Code execution
Dashboard and analytics

PasteDB: https://pastedb.netlify.app

Github: https://github.com/sorathiya903/pastedb

4. I tried contacting the website

Before escalating the issue, I tried contacting the website using the email addresses available to me.

I found the following email addresses on the website's pages:

Unfortunately, the messages weren't delivered.

Attempt 1

me@ayubbaba.in

Result:

554 5.7.1 — Relay access denied

Attempt 2

legal@ayubbaba.in

Result:

554 5.7.1 — Relay access denied

I wasn't able to establish contact through those addresses.

5. Why I'm writing this

I'm not writing this post to start a fight with anyone.

I'm writing it because I think there's an important lesson here for open-source developers:

Your repository isn't just your code. It's also evidence of your work.

Commit history, releases, documentation, licenses and timestamps can help establish what a project actually contains and how it evolved.

If you're building something publicly, it's worth keeping that history organized.

What I learned

Keep your repository history

Don't treat Git history as something disposable.

It can become an important record of how a project evolved.

Keep your documentation accurate

A clear README and changelog make it easier for others to understand what your project actually does.

Keep licenses visible

Open-source licenses explain what other people can and cannot do with your code.

Verify claims before publishing them

A project being publicly available doesn't mean its development history can simply be invented.

What I'm doing now

I've documented the discrepancies and preserved screenshots of the relevant sections.

I'm also contacting the hosting provider through its abuse/copyright reporting process to ask them to review the reported material.

I'm not claiming that every inaccurate statement automatically constitutes copyright infringement.

My concern is that the article presents incorrect technical and authorship information as the history of my project.

I'd like to hear from other developers

Have you ever found an article, video, tutorial, or website describing your open-source project incorrectly?

How did you handle it?

Did you contact the author first, report it to the platform, or simply leave it alone?

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