title: Rails time_ago_in_words gives error undefined method `>' for nil:NilClass
body: <p>This is an individual post partial that is rendered as part of a feed partial. So its a partial within a partial.</p>
  
  <p>Everything works fine except for the <code>time_ago_in_words</code> line. The error is </p>
  
  <pre><code>ActionView::Template::Error:
     undefined method `&gt;' for nil:NilClass
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>It doesn't make sense because <code>feed_post</code> is not nil. its rendered 3 times before the error shows up. There is a <code>created_at</code> because the same posts are shown in a different view, so I know its in the database. Also, if I remove <code>time_ago_in_words</code> and just have <code>feed_post.created_at</code> it works fine. I'm stumped.</p>
  
  <p><code># shared/_feed_post.html.erb</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>  &lt;li&gt;
    &lt;%= link_to gravatar(feed_post.user), feed_post.user %&gt;
    &lt;span class="user"&gt;
      &lt;%= link_to feed_post.user.email, feed_post.user %&gt;
    &lt;/span&gt;
    &lt;span class="post_text"&gt;
      &lt;%= feed_post.text %&gt;
    &lt;/span&gt;
    &lt;span class="timestamp"&gt;
      &lt;%= time_ago_in_words(feed_post.created_at) %&gt; #### Here is the trouble
    &lt;/span&gt;
  &lt;/li&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Here I render the partial with collection <code>@feed_posts</code></p>
  
  <p><code># shared/_feed.html.erb</code></p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;% if @feed_posts.any? %&gt;
    &lt;ol class="posts"&gt;
      &lt;%= render partial: 'shared/feed_post', collection: @feed_posts %&gt;
    &lt;/ol&gt;
  &lt;% end %&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>And here is the controller action</p>
  
  <pre><code>def home
    @feed_posts = current_user.feed
  end
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Hopefully this is an easy error for someone to help with. I just don't see it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks</p>
  
  <p>EDIT
  Here is the full trace</p>
  
  <pre><code>app/views/shared/_feed_post.html.erb:10:in `_app_views_shared__feed_post_html_erb___559710345292053670_70357988998940'
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  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/template.rb:141:in `render'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:399:in `block in collection_with_template'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:395:in `map'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:395:in `collection_with_template'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:291:in `render_collection'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:275:in `block in render'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/abstract_renderer.rb:38:in `block in instrument'
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  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/helpers/rendering_helper.rb:24:in `render'
  app/views/shared/_feed.html.erb:3:in `_app_views_shared__feed_html_erb__1326961751106757393_70357968045160'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/template.rb:143:in `block in render'
  activesupport (4.0.0.rc2) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:161:in `instrument'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/template.rb:141:in `render'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:306:in `render_partial'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/partial_renderer.rb:279:in `block in render'
  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/renderer/abstract_renderer.rb:38:in `block in instrument'
  activesupport (4.0.0.rc2) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:159:in `block in instrument'
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  activesupport (4.0.0.rc2) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:159:in `instrument'
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  actionpack (4.0.0.rc2) lib/action_view/helpers/rendering_helper.rb:27:in `render'
  app/views/pages/home.html.erb:12:in `_app_views_pages_home_html_erb__4035833185189931772_70357967633720'
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  activesupport (4.0.0.rc2) lib/active_support/core_ext/benchmark.rb:12:in `block in ms'
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  activesupport (4.0.0.rc2) lib/active_support/notifications.rb:159:in `instrument'
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  /Users/Brian/.rvm/rubies/ruby-2.0.0-p0/lib/ruby/2.0.0/webrick/server.rb:295:in `block in start_thread'
  </code></pre>