I changed the unless to unless user.update_or_create (no cap, so its calling the instance not the User model right?)

snippet of monsoc.rb (app file)

require 'rubygems'
#require 'ruby-debug'; debugger;
gem 'rest-client', '=1.6.1'
%w(./config haml sinatra digest/md5 rack rack-flash json rest-client ./models).each  { |lib| require lib}
set :sessions, true
set :show_exceptions, true
set :environment, :development
use Rack::Flash

get "/" do
  if session[:userid].nil? then
    @token = "http://#{env["HTTP_HOST"]}/after_login"
    haml :login
  else
#    @user = User.get(session[:userid])
    @all = @user.feed
    haml :landing
  end
end

get "/logout" do
  session[:userid] = nil
  redirect "/"
end

# called by RPX after the login completes
post "/after_login" do
  profile = get_user_profile_with params[:token]
  user = User.find(profile["identifier"])
  if user.new?
    photo = profile ["email"] ? "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/#{Digest::MD5.hexdigest(profile["email"])}" : profile["photo"]
    unless user.update_or_create({ :nickname => profile["identifier"].hash.to_s(36), :email => profile["email"], :photo_url => photo, :provider => profile["provider"]})
      flash[:error] = user.errors.values.join(",")
      redirect "/"
    end
    session[:userid] = user.id
    redirect "/user/profile/change"
  else
    session[:userid] = user.id
    redirect "/"
  end
end