Discussion on: TIL You Can Add Virtual Attributes to Rails Models

I don't have all the context of your application but they way I understood, if the role is not updated for some reason, the user will get notified that they have a super power when they not. You should move the check after the role is updated.

Also it's worth the mention that attr_acccessor (Ruby method apidock.com/ruby/Module/attr_accessor) acts as an alias for attr_reader and attr_writer methods, both options will work for this case.

Examples:

attr_writer :superpower_email

# generates
def superpower_email=(value);
  @superpower_email = value
end

# -
attr_reader :superpower_email

# generates
def superpower_email
  @superpower_email
end

# -
attr_accessor :superpower_email

# generates
def superpower_email=(value)
  @superpower_email = value
end

def superpower_email
  @superpower_email
end

Hope this makes it clear, since the line about why you use attr_accessor can be misleading.

Good writing, thanks for sharing.