As PlateWire's popularity continues to grow, I have noticed more web sites of a similar nature launching on a regular basis. After some discussion with other webmasters (including AboveAverageDriver.com's Chris) I came to the conclusion that this niche market would benefit from having one single clearing house to exchange messaging of license plates.

For instance, say Joe in California, witnesses Suzy's teenage daughter driving recklessly down the highway. Perhaps Joe does contact the authorities but they deem it low priority. So Joe goes home and send a "wire" to the plate, using AboveAverageDriver. Suzy on the other hand is registered on PlateWire to receive a notification if any of her plates are messaged. WIthout PlateXchange, Judy would have not received the message regarding her daughters reckless driving (unless she would have checked on AAD's website).

PlateXchange offers an Open Source system for web sites to communicate license plate packages amongst themselves.

So if you run a license plate based web site, or have a neat idea that you think would take off, but have avoided launching it, because others have something similar, now is your chance to participate in a growing network of niche web sites!

http://www.PlateXchange.com/

For those of you wondering, yes, PlateWire is down, has been down for over 15 hours at last count. Why is PlateWire down you ask? Thanks to the great folks @ 1 and 1 (Note: Sarcasm). Since January I have experienced numerous outages with the server where PlateWire lives and everytime 1 & 1 claims its this or the other, most often blaming me. Turns out they have faulty network hardware and don't care much for honoring their 99.99% uptime clause in their contract.

Please, if you are looking for a hosting provider, dedicated server, virtual server, web hosting, whatever, please DO NOT even consider 1 and 1 unless you enjoying getting jerked around by incompetent, inempt individuals who could give a damn that your livelyhood is going down the tubes.

Apparently I am not the only person that has been affected by their incompetence, Dmitri from San Fran launched 1and1Sucks.info which delves deep into issues with this joke of a company.

On a lighter note:

Yes, It has been a while since I've updated my blog, but have setup a plan to update more frequently. I plan to publish some technical articles, especially focusing on Microsoft Silverlight, a wonderful new product that in my opinion will revolutionize web development as we know it. I'll also be delving into LINQ and all of the neat new features of Orcas.

So, the time is here, America's political history is about to change dramatically; historic events are about to unfold before our very eyes, I for one am excited. I intend to research each canditates' position thouroughly and choose the individual who I feel will make more positive impacts in our country's future.

Tonight I plan to participate in Hillary's Web Cast
(http://www.hillaryclinton.com/action/conversation/conversation.aspx?sc=8)
which is a good use of technology, hence the question that I pose:

My question to Hillary is two-fold: What is your opinion of the growing trend of web sites that are forming communities of online citizens who are aligned towards similar goals in regards to social reforms?
What is your technology stance; how do you feel technology will shape and color your campaign and possible term in office?

Yesterday PlateWire was #6 on Yahoo! Buzz and today we are number 3 on Dogpile's "Favorite Fetches", too cool!

"Wow". That is about all I was able to say for several hours after witnessing myself on CNN; The news that I grew up watching, is now watching me!

First off I'd like to give a huge thanks to each and everyone of you that continues to participate in PlateWire. The response has been wonderful and we are glad that we are able to develop something that people find useful, something that is producing positive results!

Please note, that currently it is just myself (That will be changing in the very near future!), and I know there are some minor bugs here and there; I am working day and night to upgrade the site to handle all of the demand. Please keep the feedback coming, I make it a point to read each and every comment, and respond to as many as humanly possible.

To answer a few common questions:

• How do you plan to moderate PlateWire? -  I am developing a community driven system which will allow registered users to "Flag" other users behavior, such as offensive or rude comments or wires. If said user receives X "Flags" from the community, their account will be suspended, and all of their input will be made invisible.
• Some users complain about the registration process -The steps are outlined in the registration page, but we do agree it can be a little confusing for some. We are developing template based registration procedures, which will be geared toward novice or advanced web surfers, which should clarify this.
• Do I have to register my Plate to use PlateWire? - No, you can choose to register as a pedestrian or a cyclist, which does not require that you register your plate. Plate registration serves mainly for the purposes of notification if your plate has received a wire.

To one and all, Happy Holidays, may they be safe and merry!

Mark Buckman

Yes, I have been very absent from this blog, I have been working tirelessly on PlateWire, the codebase has increased by almost 100% since the "Big Bang" (November 20th, when the article in the Washington Post went out)!

As the days have progressed, the quality of submitted "Wires" has increased exponentially. Our hopes that PlateWire will be an effective tool in minimizing traffic injuries is materializing!

I'm in talks with individuals willing to help launch versions in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand!

I've also added a CafePress, with the help of my beautiful wife Heather, she pretty much designed all of the products, including my favorite, the "Kiss My Bumper" sticker!

My Holiday greetings goes out to everyone, please be safe on the roadways, make it home safe to your family and loved ones.

Right around the time I was putting the finishing touches on the initial version of PlateWire, I had an awful experience at a local dealership when seeking service for our family's Land Rover, Molly. The way I was treated by the dealership, Rosenthal Land Rover upset me so that I decided to vent my feelings publicly (notice a recurring theme? . I registered and posted http://RosenthalSucks.com and within days I was amazed at the response I received from other ex-Rosenthal customers, apparently I wasn't the only one they had treated like a 2nd class citizen, it seemed to be regular pattern with these guys.

Obviously, Rosenthal was not very happy with the web site, and asked me on several occasions to take it down. I replied, on what grounds? My claims we're truthful and not slanderous, I was only educating other individuals before they too became victims of Rosenthal. So I offered them this solution: I developed a small site (inspired by this incident) RespectThyCustomer (very, very rough, I've hardly put 4 hours into it), and offered Rosenthal a solution; send RespectThyCustomer 100 or so happy customers that give Rosenthal a positive feedback on the web site, and I would freely hand over the RosenthalSucks.com domain to them. They declined, well actually they never even acknowledged my offer, I guess they don't care to make happy customers?

In the midst of everything thats been going on this week, I received an email from the Internet Sales Manager, inquiring about my current car needs; "Perhaps we missed your business last time or you decided to put off your purchase for a time, but you now have a need for a new or pre-owned vehicle. ". So now they know exactly what I want and when I want it? When did they invent the mind reader, I'm sure other dealerships would be interested in their technology :-P

The funny thing is this; RosenthalSucks.com is actually the reason that PlateWire got it's first article in the Washington Post! A  reporter had contacted me about RespectThyCustomer, and the reason behind it. During our conversation I mentioned PlateWire, and the rest as they say is history.

The sales manager at Rosenthal has since emailed me letting me know I have been removed from all email sales list, you'd figure they would have done this previously, but their incompetence does not surprise me.

It is my ardent belief that a new age is just over the horizon, an age in which the voice of the people will become so loud the powers that be will no longer be able to drown it out.

Let your voice be heard!

My inbox overflows, so many people to write back to, so little time!

Email has been pouring in from all over the world! So many people that understand and love the concept! The overwhelming positive feedback has definately sparked some new fire into this project.

1/3 of all of the feedback we have received from Platewire has come from Canadians requesting that we allow them to post as well; I was not aware of how many people commute back and forth between the states and Canada; in turn, we have decided to add Canadian plates and provinces as soon as humanly possible.

I have made a solid decision to not over advertise on PlateWire, I have long term goals for this project and wholly intend to make a service that will last for generations. PlateWire will be a dependable, reliable, and reputable service that people can turn to not only for venting their frustrations, but to take a further look inside of themselves and their part in the human condition.

Hopefully I'll have the new servers in place sometime tonight and can start turning on search and voicemail services again.

Appearing on T.V. is odd, they don't even have camera men anymore, they sit you in this tiny room thats just a few degrees cooler than hell, with this huge robotic camera coming out of the ground staring right at your mug and wire you down so they can speak little voices in to your ears.

So many people from my past have come out of the woodwork all of the sudden.... I wonder why?