What is Object::private and Object::public in Ruby? -
what these methods , how bad override them? irb(main):001:0> object::respond_to?('private', true) => true irb(main):002:0> object::respond_to?('public', true) => true the problem comes in rails when trying define scope named private or public model. because of fix bug https://rails.lighthouseapp.com/projects/8994/tickets/4167-activerecord-named_scope-using-columns-as-the-name-is-buggered there's lot of warnings like: creating scope :public. overwriting existing method mymodel.public. the public , private methods ruby's access modifiers. basically, when this: class example public def end private def something_else end end the public , private keywords not keywords @ all, they're method calls. i'm pretty sure it's not idea override them, i'd name scopes in other way.