diff --git a/app/models/status_message.rb b/app/models/status_message.rb
index 1c167706e..093316659 100644
--- a/app/models/status_message.rb
+++ b/app/models/status_message.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,8 @@
 #   the COPYRIGHT file.
 
 class StatusMessage < Post
-
+  
+  validates_length_of :message, :maximum => 1000, :message => "please make your status messages less than 1000 characters"
   xml_name :status_message
   xml_accessor :message
 
diff --git a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
index 8449b964c..086d66e80 100644
--- a/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/status_message_spec.rb
@@ -21,6 +21,15 @@ describe StatusMessage do
     status = @user.post(:status_message, :message => "Users do things", :to => @aspect.id)
   end
 
+  it 'should require status messages to be less than 1000 characters' do
+    message = ''
+    1001.times do message = message +'1';end
+    status = Factory.build(:status_message, :message => message)
+
+    status.should_not be_valid
+    
+  end
+
   describe "XML" do
     it 'should serialize to XML' do
       message = Factory.create(:status_message, :message => "I hate WALRUSES!", :person => @user.person)