diff --git a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
index 4580f9cd3..397d48999 100644
--- a/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
+++ b/app/helpers/application_helper.rb
@@ -9,12 +9,23 @@ module ApplicationHelper
 
   def store_posts_from_xml(xml)
     doc = Nokogiri::XML(xml) { |cfg| cfg.noblanks }
+
+    #i need to check some sort of metadata field
+
     doc.xpath("//post").each do |post| #this is the post wrapper
       post.children.each do|type|  #now the text of post itself is the type 
         #type object to xml is the the thing we want to from_xml
-        object =  type.name.camelize.constantize.from_xml type.to_s
-        object.save
+        check_and_save_post(type)
       end
     end
   end
+
+  def check_and_save_post(type)
+    begin
+      object = type.name.camelize.constantize.from_xml type.to_s
+      object.save if object.is_a? Post
+    rescue
+      puts "Not of type post"
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/bookmark.rb b/app/models/bookmark.rb
index c6241931f..61f4697f7 100644
--- a/app/models/bookmark.rb
+++ b/app/models/bookmark.rb
@@ -9,4 +9,17 @@ class Bookmark < Post
   
   validates_presence_of :link  
 
+  validates_format_of :link, :with =>
+    /^(http|https):\/\/[a-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*\.[a-z]{2,5}(([0-9]{1,5})?\/.*)?$/ix
+
+  before_validation :clean_link
+
+  protected
+
+  def clean_link
+    if self.link
+      self.link = 'http://' + self.link unless self.link.match('http://' || 'https://')
+      self.link = self.link + '/' if self.link[-1,1] != '/'
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/app/models/friend.rb b/app/models/friend.rb
index 061a2094b..69b60fd36 100644
--- a/app/models/friend.rb
+++ b/app/models/friend.rb
@@ -9,5 +9,17 @@ class Friend
   field :url
 
   validates_presence_of :username, :url
-  
+  validates_format_of :url, :with =>
+    /^(http|https):\/\/[a-z0-9]+([\-\.]{1}[a-z0-9]+)*\.[a-z]{2,5}(([0-9]{1,5})?\/.*)?$/ix
+
+  before_validation :clean_url
+
+  protected
+
+  def clean_url
+    if self.url
+      self.url = 'http://' + self.url unless self.url.match('http://' || 'https://')
+      self.url = self.url + '/' if self.url[-1,1] != '/'
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
index 0b20b21ab..b6ad08b93 100644
--- a/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/controllers/dashboard_controller_spec.rb
@@ -8,4 +8,5 @@ describe DashboardController do
     get :index
     response.should render_template(:index)
   end
+
 end
diff --git a/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb b/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
index 04c1846b4..978a5c83e 100644
--- a/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/helpers/parser_spec.rb
@@ -17,5 +17,24 @@ describe DashboardHelper do
     StatusMessage.count.should == 10
   end
 
+  it 'should discard posts where it does not know the type' do
+    xml = "<posts>
+      <post><status_message>\n  <message>Here is another message</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
+      <post><not_a_real_type></not_a_real_type></post>
+      <post><status_message>\n  <message>HEY DUDE</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
+      </posts>"
+    store_posts_from_xml(xml)
+    Post.count.should == 2
+  end
+
+  it 'should discard types which are not of type post' do
+    xml = "<posts>
+      <post><status_message>\n  <message>Here is another message</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
+      <post><friend></friend></post>
+      <post><status_message>\n  <message>HEY DUDE</message>\n  <owner>a@a.com</owner>\n  <snippet>a@a.com</snippet>\n  <source>a@a.com</source>\n</status_message></post>
+      </posts>"
+    store_posts_from_xml(xml)
+    Post.count.should == 2
+  end
 
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb b/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
index 4cb8b5fc6..f46b05dea 100644
--- a/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/bookmark_spec.rb
@@ -14,19 +14,63 @@ describe Bookmark do
     n.owner.should == "bob@aol.com" 
   end
 
+  it 'should validate its link' do
+    bookmark = Factory.build(:bookmark)
+
+    #links changed valid
+    bookmark.link = "google.com"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true 
+    bookmark.link.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    bookmark.link = "www.google.com"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true
+    bookmark.link.should == "http://www.google.com/"
+
+    bookmark.link = "google.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true
+    bookmark.link.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    bookmark.link = "www.google.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true
+    bookmark.link.should == "http://www.google.com/"
+
+    bookmark.link = "http://google.com"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true
+    bookmark.link.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    bookmark.link = "http://www.google.com"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == true
+
+    #invalid links
+    bookmark.link = "zsdvzxdg"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "sdfasfa.c"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "http://.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "http://www..com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "http:/www.asodij.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "https:/www.asodij.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+    bookmark.link = "http:///www.asodij.com/"
+    bookmark.valid?.should == false
+  end
+
   describe "XML" do
     it 'should serialize to XML' do
       Factory.create(:user)
       message = Factory.create(:bookmark, :title => "Reddit", :link => "http://reddit.com")
       message.to_xml.to_s.should include "<title>Reddit</title>"
-      message.to_xml.to_s.should include "<link>http://reddit.com</link>"
+      message.to_xml.to_s.should include "<link>http://reddit.com/</link>"
     end
   
     it 'should marshal serialized XML to object' do       
-      xml = "<bookmark><title>Reddit</message><link>http://reddit.com</link><owner>bob@aol.com</owner></bookmark>" 
+      xml = "<bookmark><title>Reddit</message><link>http://reddit.com/</link><owner>bob@aol.com</owner></bookmark>" 
       parsed = Bookmark.from_xml(xml)
       parsed.title.should == "Reddit"
-      parsed.link.should == "http://reddit.com"
+      parsed.link.should == "http://reddit.com/"
       parsed.owner.should == "bob@aol.com"
       parsed.valid?.should be_true
     end
diff --git a/spec/models/friend_spec.rb b/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
index 7106e16ee..4ccf0ee7c 100644
--- a/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/friend_spec.rb
@@ -1,13 +1,59 @@
 require File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper'
 
 describe Friend do
+
   it 'should have a diaspora username and diaspora url' do 
-    n = Factory.build(:friend, :url => nil)
+    n = Factory.build(:friend, :url => "")
     n.valid?.should be false
     n.url = "http://max.com/"
     n.valid?.should be true
   end
 
+
+  it 'should validate its url' do
+    friend = Factory.build(:friend)
+
+    #urls changed valid
+    friend.url = "google.com"
+    friend.valid?.should == true 
+    friend.url.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    friend.url = "www.google.com"
+    friend.valid?.should == true
+    friend.url.should == "http://www.google.com/"
+
+    friend.url = "google.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == true
+    friend.url.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    friend.url = "www.google.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == true
+    friend.url.should == "http://www.google.com/"
+
+    friend.url = "http://google.com"
+    friend.valid?.should == true
+    friend.url.should == "http://google.com/"
+
+    friend.url = "http://www.google.com"
+    friend.valid?.should == true
+
+    #invalid urls
+    friend.url = "zsdvzxdg"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "sdfasfa.c"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "http://.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "http://www..com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "http:/www.asodij.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "https:/www.asodij.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+    friend.url = "http:///www.asodij.com/"
+    friend.valid?.should == false
+  end
+
    describe "XML" do
     before do
       @f = Factory.build(:friend)