title: In Rails models; for symbols get automatically converted to YAML when saving to DB. What is the correct approach?
body: <p>In my model example Game, has a status column. But I usually set status by using symbols. Example <pre>self.status = :active</pre></p>
  
  <pre><code>    MATCH_STATUS = { 
        :betting_on =&gt; "Betting is on",
        :home_team_won =&gt; "Home team has won",
        :visiting_team_won =&gt; "Visiting team has one",
        :game_tie =&gt; "Game is tied"
      }.freeze
  
  def viewable_status
    MATCH_STATUS[self.status]
  end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I use the above Map to switch between viewable status and viceversa.</p>
  
  <p>However when the data gets saved to db, ActiveRecord appends "--- " to each status. So when I retrieve back the status is screwed.</p>
  
  <p>What should be the correct approach?</p>