A method name is actually just one part of a method invocation and since methods take arguments, one can use the arguments to provide a lot more clarity of what the method is doing than simply restricting oneslef to the method name. Infact, methods with names like make_person_an_outside_subscriber_if_all_accesses_revoked are just begging for a plethora of methods like make_person_an_inside_subscriber_if_all_accesses_not_revoked, make_person_an_outside_observer_if_some_accesses_revoked and so on. I am not sure I would like to work with such an API, let alone maintain it.

Instead, my suggestion is to for clear method invocations. Clear method invocations are a much better indicator of a well thought out API, where reading and writing the code starts to seem very natural. For example, the above method call would seem just as natural if called as

@person.set_role(:to => :outside_observer, :if => :all_accesses_revoked?)

Just as readable and without the deleterious effects on your API.

Interestingly, the method definition of set_role suffers a bit, and here’s where we have an aesthetic tradeoff.

However, I would much rather write some Tomdoc on the method than pollute my API. Clearly this is a matter of choice. The ideal solution of course would be named arguments, which will come in Ruby 2.0.