having a fix call order resolves a problem where

'value=' was called before 'name=' resulting in no
serialization

app/models/setting.rb

@@ -158,8 +158,10 @@ private
   def self.find_or_default(name)
     name = name.to_s
     raise "There's no setting named #{name}" unless @@available_settings.has_key?(name)
-    setting = find_by_name(name)
-    setting ||= new(:name => name, :value => @@available_settings[name]['default']) if @@available_settings.has_key? name
+    find_by_name(name) or new do |s|
+      s.name  = name
+      s.value = @@available_settings[name]['default']
+    end
   end
 
   def self.cache_key(name)