I have updated the formVista software that runs m-by-mc with my latest round of updates.

jpcfjr will be happy to know that the linking code should now work correctly so you should now be able to put links in parentheses or have periods at the end of them without it breaking the links. That was actually a bigger pain than one might think. Long story.

As I've mentioned to many, I'm working very hard to build out a number of features here that will hopefully turn this site into a useful resource for motorcycle travellers.

Part of my evil vision is what I call a "social index" which will, eventually, be the basis for the google maps "good places and routes to ride" features that are coming down the pike.

One of the big problems I've had with sites like these is that there's little way to organize and remember what was where. You read a good post but then a few days later can't for the life of you remember how to find it.

So what I've built is a kind of tagging system with a significant twist.

You will now notice that next to each forum post and each link inside the posts there are little [save] links. You will also notice that at the bottom of the post dialog there is now an "Add Link" feature. If you go to My Profile using the links at the top right of the page, you'll notice you now have a "My Links" tab.

You can now save any link with a [save] next to it to your My Links tab. When you save the link you can edit it's title and description and you can "tag" it with any words you like.

To tag something start with a # sign in the tag entry box and then type a word. If someone else has used a similar tag, drop down options will appear letting you know what other tags people have used. For instance, I might tag a motogp youtube video about Rossi as #youtube #motogp #rossi.

When you save it, not only does it get added to your list, but it also gets added to the master list visible to everyone. Each time someone saves and tags a link it will increase that links popularity.

Later, to find things, you can search for links based on how they have been tagged. The way I've built this, you can from the Social LInks page, click on a tag. It will then show you all the links for that tag. You can click on another tag and it'll add that to the list. You can add and remove tags as you see fit until you find the thing you're looking for.

But what makes this feature particularly powerful, and why I call it a "social index", is you can also search for links saved only saved by your friends. Using this you might ask "what was the most popular youtube motogp video amongst my friends?".

Once I have the maps integrated we'll be able to do the same things with map locations, routes, shops and vendors.

If you log in here using Facebook, then any friends you have on facebook who are friends here will be auto-synced and in your list. If you are not using facebook to log in, you can find members you want to be friends with from the Members link at the top. Please do friend some people we can get some networking going on here and start filling in the index.

As I find motorcycle related things I'll be throwing them into the index. Once I have more of a breather I hope to write up some documentation on what I've built and how it works.

The site still looks rough. Once she has some time, Stacie has said she'll help me come up with a better look for the site. Tweaking the site, making sure everything works and refining how it all flows will consume much of my life.

But I truly do hope we can turn this into more than just another motorcycle forum.

If you have any questions, comments, etc. please post them here or contact me. And please use it! Bang on it. Let me know what you think.