#trying to be able to get the message author in the view easily.

class Message < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :msg_owners
  has_many :users, :through => :msg_owners
  has_one :author, :source => :user, :through => :msg_owners, :conditions => ["users.author = ?",true]
end

class User < ActiveRecord::Base
  has_many :msg_owners
  has_many :messages, :through => :msg_owners
end

#this table has a record for everyone who can see the message.  The boolean author field is true for the person that originated the message
class MsgOwners < ActiveRecord::Base
  belongs_to :user
  belongs_to :message
end

index controller
  def create
    @message = Message.new(params[:message])
    respond_to do |format|
      if @message.save
        #add a record in the MsgOwners table that designates the author.  Any recipients would also get a record but boolean would be false.
        @msg_owner = MsgOwners.new(:user_id => current_user.id, :message_id => @message.id, :author => true)
        @msg_owner.save
        flash[:notice] = 'Message was successfully created.'
        @messages = Message.find(:all, :order => "created_at DESC")
        format.html { render :action => "index" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @message, :status => :created, :location => @message }
      else
        format.html { render :action => "new" }
        format.xml  { render :xml => @message.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
      end
    end
  end

index view
<% @messages.each do |message| %>
      <%=h trying to get author's name here %> said "<%=h message.message %>"<br/>
      <%=h message.time_ago_or_time_stamp %>
<% end %>