There is little evidence of authors applying FAIR data guidance in their data publishing. Current practice involves minimal primary data sharing and predominantly ties up those data that are provided in PDF files. Of four manuscripts where authors had intentionally uploaded their data to a repository, none showed a strong understanding of how to prepare the data to maximise its interoperability and reusability. In some areas, practice 'met' FAIR guidance only superficially. For example, for the two manuscripts that provided READMEs, the content lacks useful metadata and documentation. The authors of these manuscripts used GitHub, which strongly encourages the creation of a README via the interface once a repository has been created, and in the documentation. The GitHub README is often the first item that a visitor to the repository will see, and therefore GitHub recommends that repository owners include useful descriptive information of their project, although the guidance is very limited. The prominent prompt to create the README and the associated lack of detailed advice on what to include could explain why a README exists, but also why it is insufficient to adequately describe the data contained therein.