diff --git a/app/models/person.rb b/app/models/person.rb
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..399dbb394
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/models/person.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,15 @@
+class Person
+  include Mongoid::Document
+  include ROXML
+
+  xml_accessor :email
+  xml_accessor :real_name
+
+  field :email
+  field :real_name
+
+  has_many_related :posts
+
+  validates_presence_of :email, :real_name
+
+end
diff --git a/app/models/post.rb b/app/models/post.rb
index 04cccc690..9dc312309 100644
--- a/app/models/post.rb
+++ b/app/models/post.rb
@@ -17,6 +17,10 @@ class Post
   field :source
   field :snippet
 
+
+  belongs_to_related :person
+  
+
   before_create :set_defaults
 
   after_save :send_to_view
@@ -50,6 +54,7 @@ class Post
     self.owner ||= user_email
     self.source ||= user_email
     self.snippet ||= user_email
+    self.person ||= User.first
   end
 end
 
diff --git a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
index bfe97c678..1484b2d9e 100644
--- a/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
+++ b/app/views/status_messages/_status_message.html.haml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 %li.message{:class => ("mine" if mine?(post))}
   %span.from
-    = link_to post.owner, "#"
+    = link_to post.person.real_name, "#"
     = post.message
   %div.time
     = "#{time_ago_in_words(post.updated_at)} ago"
diff --git a/spec/models/post_spec.rb b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
index 7bc28571f..61bd5efbc 100644
--- a/spec/models/post_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/post_spec.rb
@@ -5,12 +5,14 @@ describe Post do
     Factory.create(:user, :email => "bob@aol.com")
   end
 
-
   describe 'defaults' do
     before do
       WebSocket.stub!(:update_clients)
-      @post = Factory.create(:post, :owner => nil, :source => nil, :snippet => nil)
+      @post = Factory.create(:post, :person => nil, :owner => nil, :source => nil, :snippet => nil)
+    end
 
+    it "should associate the owner if none is present" do
+      @post.person.should == User.first
     end
 
     it "should add an owner if none is present" do