Need help understanding self.abstract_class = true in AR

Wes Gamble wrote:

Q2) If self.abstract_class = true is NOT meant to create an ActiveRecord model that is not backed by a table, then what is the correct way to accomplish that?

I'm a bit flummoxed by why you'd want an ActiveRecord object that didn't have a database table behind it. What would it do? The whole point of ActiveRecord is to map the object to the database.

If you just want a class that isn't saved to the database, you can create a normal Ruby class like

class Person end

and put it in your /app/models directory and use it.

Chris