Rails - Jan 2006 - habtm with acts_as_list vs. :through

Hi,

I am interested in has_and_belongs_to_many with an acts_as_list
relationship where the position field is in the join table. I found
the following tutorial

http://wiki.rubyonrails.org/rails/pages/HowToUseActsAsListWithHasAndBelongsToMany

Is there a newer way that is less complicated?

What about the :through parameter that I read DHH is writing? Is that
a reality yet?

Thanks,
Peter