Good notes posted by squil

default_scope on create

If you specify :conditions in your default_scope in form of a Hash, they will also be applied as default values for newly created objects. Example:

class Article
  default_scope :conditions => {:published => true}
end

Article.new.published? # => true

However:

class Article
  default_scope :conditions => 'published = 1'
end

Article.new.published? # => false