This is my controller: class Members < ActiveRecord::Base def name return name + "" end def describe return name + "" + email + "" + mobile + "" + category + "" + other end end when i go into the rails console and connect to Members, I say: a = Members.first a.name <<< this should give me the "name" of that person but it does not, it says: SystemStackError: stack level too deep -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Ruby on Rails: Talk" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rubyonrails-talk+unsubscribe-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/Ez6ZCGd0@public.gmane.org To post to this group, send email to rubyonrails-talk-/JYPxA39Uh5TLH3MbocFF+G/Ez6ZCGd0@public.gmane.org To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rubyonrails-talk/f21cdd0c38c69d41c7df9795dbd15d3b%40ruby-forum.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.