diff --git a/fedireads/migrations/0002_auto_20200217_0309.py b/fedireads/migrations/0002_auto_20200217_0309.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..1c05a22a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fedireads/migrations/0002_auto_20200217_0309.py
@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# Generated by Django 3.0.3 on 2020-02-17 03:09
+
+from django.db import migrations, models
+import django.utils.timezone
+
+
+class Migration(migrations.Migration):
+
+    dependencies = [
+        ('fedireads', '0001_initial'),
+    ]
+
+    operations = [
+        migrations.RenameField(
+            model_name='author',
+            old_name='added_date',
+            new_name='created_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RenameField(
+            model_name='book',
+            old_name='added_date',
+            new_name='created_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RemoveField(
+            model_name='author',
+            name='updated_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RemoveField(
+            model_name='book',
+            name='updated_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RemoveField(
+            model_name='shelf',
+            name='updated_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RemoveField(
+            model_name='user',
+            name='created_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.RemoveField(
+            model_name='user',
+            name='updated_date',
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='author',
+            name='content',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, null=True),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='book',
+            name='content',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, null=True),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='federatedserver',
+            name='content',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, null=True),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='federatedserver',
+            name='created_date',
+            field=models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True, default=django.utils.timezone.now),
+            preserve_default=False,
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='shelf',
+            name='content',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, null=True),
+        ),
+        migrations.AddField(
+            model_name='shelfbook',
+            name='content',
+            field=models.TextField(blank=True, null=True),
+        ),
+    ]
diff --git a/fedireads/utils/models.py b/fedireads/utils/models.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..5b80c02c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/fedireads/utils/models.py
@@ -0,0 +1,21 @@
+from django.db import models
+
+from fedireads.settings import DOMAIN
+
+
+class FedireadsModel(models.Model):
+    content = models.TextField(blank=True, null=True)
+    created_date = models.DateTimeField(auto_now_add=True)
+
+    @property
+    def absolute_id(self):
+        ''' constructs the absolute reference to any db object '''
+        base_path = 'https://%s' % DOMAIN
+        if self.user:
+            base_path = self.user.absolute_id
+        model_name = type(self).__name__
+        return '%s/%s/%d' % (base_path, model_name, self.id)
+
+    class Meta:
+        abstract = True
+