I've been using the CanCan(Can) gem to handle all permissions logic, both in controllers and views. It abstracts all user state logic to a single file https://g

I've been using the CanCan(Can) gem to handle all permissions logic, both in controllers and views. It abstracts all user state logic to a single file https://github.com/CanCanCommunity/cancancan https://github.com/CanCanCommunity/cancancan I find this pattern to be the most manageable especially in large projects. But I agree with your point. "if current_user" is miles better than "if current_user.name != 'Guest'". Edited to add: As far as this articles use of current_user.name being guest, it makes sense to use a presenter to display the data in the view. Conditionally displaying a user name or 'Guest' in a view is kinda gross. Again I'll suggest a gem for this pattern https://github.com/drapergem/draper https://github.com/drapergem/draper All objects coming into the view should be wrapped, especially and ActiveRecord objects.