diff --git a/app/controllers/choices_controller.rb b/app/controllers/choices_controller.rb
index 50ba099..5c62e02 100644
--- a/app/controllers/choices_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/choices_controller.rb
@@ -12,8 +12,8 @@ class ChoicesController < InheritedResources::Base
 
       find_options = {:conditions => {:question_id => @question.id},
 		      :limit => params[:limit].to_i, 
-		      :order => 'score DESC', 
-		      :include => :item}
+		      :order => 'score DESC'
+		      }
       
       find_options[:conditions].merge!(:active => true) unless params[:include_inactive]
       find_options.merge!(:offset => params[:offset]) if params[:offset]
@@ -23,9 +23,9 @@ class ChoicesController < InheritedResources::Base
     else
       @question = Question.find(params[:question_id], :include => :choices) #eagerloads ALL choices
       unless params[:include_inactive]
-        @choices = @question.choices(true).active.find(:all, :include => :item)
+        @choices = @question.choices(true).active.find(:all)
       else
-        @choices = @question.choices.find(:all, :include =>:item)
+        @choices = @question.choices.find(:all)
       end
     end
     index! do |format|
diff --git a/app/controllers/items_controller.rb b/app/controllers/items_controller.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index b2afd73..0000000
--- a/app/controllers/items_controller.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,86 +0,0 @@
-class ItemsController < ApplicationController
-  before_filter :authenticate
-  # GET /items
-  # GET /items.xml
-  def index
-    @items = Item.all
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      format.html # index.html.erb
-      format.xml  { render :xml => @items }
-    end
-  end
-
-  # GET /items/1
-  # GET /items/1.xml
-  def show
-    @item = Item.find(params[:id])
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      format.html # show.html.erb
-      format.xml  { render :xml => @item }
-    end
-  end
-
-  # GET /items/new
-  # GET /items/new.xml
-  def new
-    @item = Item.new
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      format.html # new.html.erb
-      format.xml  { render :xml => @item }
-    end
-  end
-
-  # GET /items/1/edit
-  def edit
-    @item = Item.find(params[:id])
-  end
-
-  # POST /items
-  # POST /items.xml
-  def create
-    @item = Item.new(params[:item])
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      if @item.save
-        flash[:notice] = 'Item was successfully created.'
-        format.html { redirect_to(@item) }
-        format.xml  { render :xml => @item, :status => :created, :location => @item }
-      else
-        format.html { render :action => "new" }
-        format.xml  { render :xml => @item.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  # PUT /items/1
-  # PUT /items/1.xml
-  def update
-    @item = Item.find(params[:id])
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      if @item.update_attributes(params[:item])
-        flash[:notice] = 'Item was successfully updated.'
-        format.html { redirect_to(@item) }
-        format.xml  { head :ok }
-      else
-        format.html { render :action => "edit" }
-        format.xml  { render :xml => @item.errors, :status => :unprocessable_entity }
-      end
-    end
-  end
-
-  # DELETE /items/1
-  # DELETE /items/1.xml
-  def destroy
-    @item = Item.find(params[:id])
-    @item.destroy
-
-    respond_to do |format|
-      format.html { redirect_to(items_url) }
-      format.xml  { head :ok }
-    end
-  end
-end
diff --git a/app/controllers/prompts_controller.rb b/app/controllers/prompts_controller.rb
index 5ba4ca6..c80eaad 100644
--- a/app/controllers/prompts_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/prompts_controller.rb
@@ -83,7 +83,7 @@ class PromptsController < InheritedResources::Base
 	appearance_id = Proc.new { |options| options[:builder].tag!('appearance_id', @a.lookup) }
       
 	visitor_votes = Proc.new { |options| options[:builder].tag!('visitor_votes', visitor.votes.count(:conditions => {:question_id => @question.id})) }
-        visitor_ideas = Proc.new { |options| options[:builder].tag!('visitor_ideas', visitor.items.count) }
+        visitor_ideas = Proc.new { |options| options[:builder].tag!('visitor_ideas', visitor.choices.count) }
 
 
         format.xml { render :xml =>  @next_prompt.to_xml(:procs => [appearance_id, visitor_votes, visitor_ideas],:methods => [:left_choice_text, :right_choice_text]), :status => :ok }
@@ -98,7 +98,7 @@ class PromptsController < InheritedResources::Base
 
   def show
     @question = current_user.questions.find(params[:question_id])
-    @prompt = @question.prompts.find(params[:id], :include => [{ :left_choice => :item }, { :right_choice => :item }])
+    @prompt = @question.prompts.find(params[:id], :include => [:left_choice ,:right_choice ])
     show! do |format|
       format.xml { render :xml => @prompt.to_xml(:methods => [:left_choice_text, :right_choice_text])}
       format.json { render :json => @prompt.to_json(:methods => [:left_choice_text, :right_choice_text])}
diff --git a/app/controllers/questions_controller.rb b/app/controllers/questions_controller.rb
index 0c68c69..3e1eadd 100644
--- a/app/controllers/questions_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/questions_controller.rb
@@ -27,12 +27,12 @@ class QuestionsController < InheritedResources::Base
   end
 
   def object_info_totals_by_question_id
-      total_ideas_by_q_id = Choice.count(:include => ['item', 'question'], 
-		          :conditions => "items.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
+      total_ideas_by_q_id = Choice.count(:include => :question, 
+		          :conditions => "choices.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
 			  :group => "choices.question_id")
 
-      active_ideas_by_q_id = Choice.count(:include => ['item', 'question'], 
-		          :conditions => "choices.active = 1 AND items.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
+      active_ideas_by_q_id = Choice.count(:include => :question, 
+		          :conditions => "choices.active = 1 AND choices.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
 			  :group => "choices.question_id")
 
       combined_hash = {}
@@ -174,8 +174,7 @@ class QuestionsController < InheritedResources::Base
     elsif object_type == "uploaded_ideas"
 
 	    uploaded_ideas_by_visitor_id = @question.choices.find(:all, :select => 'creator_id, count(*) as ideas_count', 
-								   :joins => [:item], 
-								   :conditions => "items.creator_id != #{@question.creator_id}", 
+								   :conditions => "choices.creator_id != #{@question.creator_id}", 
 	                                                           :group => 'creator_id')
 
 	    count = 0
@@ -255,8 +254,7 @@ class QuestionsController < InheritedResources::Base
     elsif object_type == 'skips'
       hash = Skip.count(:conditions => {:question_id => @question.id}, :group => "date(created_at)")
     elsif object_type == 'user_submitted_ideas'
-      hash = Choice.count(:include => 'item', 
-		          :conditions => "choices.question_id = #{@question.id} AND items.creator_id <> #{@question.creator_id}", 
+      hash = Choice.count(:conditions => "choices.question_id = #{@question.id} AND choices.creator_id <> #{@question.creator_id}", 
 			  :group => "date(choices.created_at)")
       # we want graphs to go from date of first vote -> date of last vote, so adding those two boundries here.
       mindate = Vote.minimum('date(created_at)', :conditions => {:question_id => @question.id})
@@ -299,8 +297,8 @@ class QuestionsController < InheritedResources::Base
     if object_type == 'votes'
       hash = Vote.count(:group => "date(created_at)")
     elsif object_type == 'user_submitted_ideas'
-      hash = Choice.count(:include => ['item', 'question'], 
-		          :conditions => "items.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
+      hash = Choice.count(:include => :question, 
+		          :conditions => "choices.creator_id <> questions.creator_id", 
 			  :group => "date(choices.created_at)")
     elsif object_type == 'user_sessions'
       result = Vote.find(:all, :select => 'date(created_at) as date, voter_id, count(*) as vote_count', 
diff --git a/app/controllers/visitors_controller.rb b/app/controllers/visitors_controller.rb
index 882f0cc..97a2271 100644
--- a/app/controllers/visitors_controller.rb
+++ b/app/controllers/visitors_controller.rb
@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@ class VisitorsController < InheritedResources::Base
 
 		visitor_ids = Visitor.find(:all, :conditions => { :identifier => session_ids})
 		votes_by_visitor_id = Vote.with_voter_ids(visitor_ids).count(:group => :voter_id) 
-		ideas_by_visitor_id = Item.with_creator_ids(visitor_ids).count(:group => :creator_id) 
+		ideas_by_visitor_id = Choice.count(:group => :creator_id) 
 
 		objects_by_session_id = {}
 		
diff --git a/app/helpers/items_helper.rb b/app/helpers/items_helper.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index cff0c9f..0000000
--- a/app/helpers/items_helper.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,2 +0,0 @@
-module ItemsHelper
-end
diff --git a/app/models/choice.rb b/app/models/choice.rb
index 7ab2fc8..f8ca4ba 100644
--- a/app/models/choice.rb
+++ b/app/models/choice.rb
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 class Choice < ActiveRecord::Base
   
   belongs_to :question, :counter_cache => true
-  belongs_to :item
   belongs_to :creator, :class_name => "Visitor", :foreign_key => "creator_id"
   
   validates_presence_of :creator, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
@@ -48,11 +47,6 @@ class Choice < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
   
   def before_create
-    #puts "just got inside choice#before_create. is set to active? #{self.active?}"
-    unless item
-      @item = Item.create!(:creator => creator, :data => data)
-      self.item = @item
-    end
     unless self.score
       self.score = 50.0
     end
@@ -75,7 +69,7 @@ class Choice < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
 
   def user_created
-    self.item.creator_id != self.question.creator_id
+    self.creator_id != self.question.creator_id
   end
 
   def compute_bt_score(btprobs = nil)
diff --git a/app/models/item.rb b/app/models/item.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index 5ce0be6..0000000
--- a/app/models/item.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,24 +0,0 @@
-class Item < ActiveRecord::Base
-  belongs_to :question, :counter_cache => true
-  belongs_to :site, :class_name => "User", :foreign_key => "site_id"
-  belongs_to :creator, :class_name => "Visitor", :foreign_key => "creator_id"
-  
-  named_scope :active, :conditions => { :active => true }
-  named_scope :with_creator_ids, lambda { |*args| {:conditions => {:creator_id=> args.first }} }
-  
-  # has_many :items_questions, :dependent => :destroy
-  # has_many :questions, :through => :items_questions
-  # has_and_belongs_to_many :prompts
-  # 
-  #   has_and_belongs_to_many :votes
-  #   has_and_belongs_to_many :prompt_requests
-
-  validates_presence_of :creator_id
-  validates_presence_of :data, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
-  
-  def self.mass_insert!(creator_id, data_array)
-    #alpha
-    inserts = data_array.collect{|i| "(#{connection.quote i}, #{connection.quote creator_id})"}.join(", ")
-    connection.insert("INSERT INTO items(data, creator_id) VALUES (#{inserts})")
-  end
-end
diff --git a/app/models/prompt.rb b/app/models/prompt.rb
index 506a1b0..e5bc269 100644
--- a/app/models/prompt.rb
+++ b/app/models/prompt.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,9 @@ class Prompt < ActiveRecord::Base
   belongs_to :left_choice, :class_name => "Choice", :foreign_key => "left_choice_id", :counter_cache => true
   belongs_to :right_choice, :class_name => "Choice", :foreign_key => "right_choice_id", :counter_cache => true
   
+  validates_presence_of :left_choice, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
+  validates_presence_of :right_choice, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
+
   named_scope :with_left_choice, lambda { |*args| {:conditions => ["left_choice_id = ?", (args.first.id)]} }
   named_scope :with_right_choice, lambda { |*args| {:conditions => ["right_choice_id = ?", (args.first.id)]} }
   named_scope :with_choice, lambda { |*args| {:conditions => ["(right_choice_id = ?) OR (left_choice_id = ?)", (args.first.id)]} }
@@ -25,8 +28,6 @@ class Prompt < ActiveRecord::Base
     select {|z| z.voted_on_by_user?(u)}
   end
   
-  validates_presence_of :left_choice, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
-  validates_presence_of :right_choice, :on => :create, :message => "can't be blank"
   
   def choices
     [left_choice, right_choice]
@@ -37,7 +38,7 @@ class Prompt < ActiveRecord::Base
   end
   
   def left_choice_text(prompt = nil)
-    left_choice.item.data
+    left_choice.data
   end
   
   def active?
@@ -46,7 +47,7 @@ class Prompt < ActiveRecord::Base
   
   
   def right_choice_text(prompt = nil)
-    right_choice.item.data
+    right_choice.data
   end
   
 end
diff --git a/app/models/question.rb b/app/models/question.rb
index c2cd40b..0f85e8d 100644
--- a/app/models/question.rb
+++ b/app/models/question.rb
@@ -26,8 +26,7 @@ class Question < ActiveRecord::Base
   def create_choices_from_ideas
     if ideas && ideas.any?
       ideas.each do |idea|
-        item = Item.create!(:data => idea.squish.strip, :creator => self.creator)
-	choices.create!(:item => item, :creator => self.creator, :active => true, :data => idea.squish.strip)
+	choices.create!(:creator => self.creator, :active => true, :data => idea.squish.strip)
       end
     end
   end
@@ -70,7 +69,7 @@ class Question < ActiveRecord::Base
    raise NotImplementedError.new("Sorry, we currently only support pairwise prompts.  Rank of the prompt must be 2.") unless rank == 2
    begin
      choice_id_array = distinct_array_of_choice_ids(rank)
-     @p = prompts.find_or_create_by_left_choice_id_and_right_choice_id(choice_id_array[0], choice_id_array[1], :include => [{ :left_choice => :item }, { :right_choice => :item }])
+     @p = prompts.find_or_create_by_left_choice_id_and_right_choice_id(choice_id_array[0], choice_id_array[1], :include => [:left_choice ,:right_choice ])
      logger.info "#{@p.inspect} is active? #{@p.active?}"
    end until @p.active?
    return @p
@@ -173,7 +172,7 @@ class Question < ActiveRecord::Base
    if params[:with_visitor_stats]
       visitor = current_user.visitors.find_or_create_by_identifier(visitor_identifier)
       result.merge!(:visitor_votes => visitor.votes.count(:conditions => {:question_id => self.id}))
-      result.merge!(:visitor_ideas => visitor.items.count)
+      result.merge!(:visitor_ideas => visitor.choices.count)
    end
 
    return result
@@ -303,14 +302,6 @@ class Question < ActiveRecord::Base
      picked_prompt.id
    end
  
-   def left_choice_text(prompt = nil)
-     picked_prompt.left_choice.item.data
-   end
-
-   def right_choice_text(prompt = nil)
-     picked_prompt.right_choice.item.data
-   end
-
    def self.voted_on_by(u)
      select {|z| z.voted_on_by_user?(u)}
    end
@@ -516,7 +507,7 @@ class Question < ActiveRecord::Base
 	     num_skips = self.skips.count(:conditions => {:prompt_id => left_prompts_ids + right_prompts_ids})
 
 	       csv << [c.question_id, c.id, "'#{c.data.strip}'", c.wins, c.losses, num_skips, c.score,
-		       user_submitted , c.item.creator_id, c.created_at, c.updated_at, c.active,
+		       user_submitted , c.creator_id, c.created_at, c.updated_at, c.active,
 		       left_appearances, right_appearances]
          end
        when 'non_votes'
diff --git a/app/models/user.rb b/app/models/user.rb
index 4a48606..68628c5 100644
--- a/app/models/user.rb
+++ b/app/models/user.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ class User < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :visitors, :class_name => "Visitor", :foreign_key => "site_id"
   has_many :questions, :class_name => "Question", :foreign_key => "site_id"
   has_many :clicks, :class_name => "Click", :foreign_key => "site_id"
-  has_many :items, :class_name => "Item", :foreign_key => "site_id"
   
   def default_visitor
     visitors.find(:first, :conditions => {:identifier => 'owner'})
diff --git a/app/models/visitor.rb b/app/models/visitor.rb
index c6e1983..b7e491e 100644
--- a/app/models/visitor.rb
+++ b/app/models/visitor.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ class Visitor < ActiveRecord::Base
   has_many :questions, :class_name => "Question", :foreign_key => "creator_id"
   has_many :votes, :class_name => "Vote", :foreign_key => "voter_id"
   has_many :skips, :class_name => "Skip", :foreign_key => "skipper_id"
-  has_many :items, :class_name => "Item", :foreign_key => "creator_id"
+  has_many :choices, :class_name => "Choice", :foreign_key => "creator_id"
   has_many :clicks
   has_many :appearances, :foreign_key => "voter_id"
   
diff --git a/app/views/items/edit.html.erb b/app/views/items/edit.html.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 0f96ad0..0000000
--- a/app/views/items/edit.html.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12 +0,0 @@
-<h1>Editing item</h1>
-
-<% form_for(@item) do |f| %>
-  <%= f.error_messages %>
-
-  <p>
-    <%= f.submit 'Update' %>
-  </p>
-<% end %>
-
-<%= link_to 'Show', @item %> |
-<%= link_to 'Back', items_path %>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/items/index.html.erb b/app/views/items/index.html.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 61cf6ab..0000000
--- a/app/views/items/index.html.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,18 +0,0 @@
-<h1>Listing items</h1>
-
-<table>
-  <tr>
-  </tr>
-
-<% @items.each do |item| %>
-  <tr>
-    <td><%= link_to 'Show', item %></td>
-    <td><%= link_to 'Edit', edit_item_path(item) %></td>
-    <td><%= link_to 'Destroy', item, :confirm => 'Are you sure?', :method => :delete %></td>
-  </tr>
-<% end %>
-</table>
-
-<br />
-
-<%= link_to 'New item', new_item_path %>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/items/new.html.erb b/app/views/items/new.html.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 369564c..0000000
--- a/app/views/items/new.html.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,11 +0,0 @@
-<h1>New item</h1>
-
-<% form_for(@item) do |f| %>
-  <%= f.error_messages %>
-
-  <p>
-    <%= f.submit 'Create' %>
-  </p>
-<% end %>
-
-<%= link_to 'Back', items_path %>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/items/show.html.erb b/app/views/items/show.html.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 7305cd8..0000000
--- a/app/views/items/show.html.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,3 +0,0 @@
-
-<%= link_to 'Edit', edit_item_path(@item) %> |
-<%= link_to 'Back', items_path %>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/app/views/layouts/items.html.erb b/app/views/layouts/items.html.erb
deleted file mode 100644
index 0624b95..0000000
--- a/app/views/layouts/items.html.erb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,17 +0,0 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN"
-       "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
-
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
-<head>
-  <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" />
-  <title>Items: <%= controller.action_name %></title>
-  <%= stylesheet_link_tag 'scaffold' %>
-</head>
-<body>
-
-<p style="color: green"><%= flash[:notice] %></p>
-
-<%= yield %>
-
-</body>
-</html>
diff --git a/spec/models/choice_spec.rb b/spec/models/choice_spec.rb
index 0b2b6ca..c892bbe 100644
--- a/spec/models/choice_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/choice_spec.rb
@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@ require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper')
 describe Choice do
   
   it {should belong_to :question}
-  it {should belong_to :item}
   it {should belong_to :creator}
   it {should have_many :flags}
   it {should have_many :votes}
diff --git a/spec/models/item_spec.rb b/spec/models/item_spec.rb
deleted file mode 100644
index e06eb3b..0000000
--- a/spec/models/item_spec.rb
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,21 +0,0 @@
-require File.expand_path(File.dirname(__FILE__) + '/../spec_helper')
-
-describe Item do
-  it {should belong_to :creator}
-  it {should belong_to :site}
-  it {should validate_presence_of :data}
-  
-  before(:each) do
-    @aoi_clone = Factory.create(:user, :email => "pius@alum.mit.edu", :password => "password", :password_confirmation => "password", :id => 8)
-    @johndoe = Factory.create(:visitor, :identifier => 'johndoe', :site => @aoi_clone)
-    @valid_attributes = {
-      :site => @aoi_clone,
-      :creator => @johndoe,
-      :data => 'a widget'
-    }
-  end
-
-  it "should create a new instance given valid attributes" do
-    Item.create!(@valid_attributes)
-  end
-end
diff --git a/spec/models/prompt_spec.rb b/spec/models/prompt_spec.rb
index a8dd846..48e8223 100644
--- a/spec/models/prompt_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/prompt_spec.rb
@@ -4,5 +4,16 @@ describe Prompt do
   it {should belong_to :question}
   it {should belong_to :left_choice}
   it {should belong_to :right_choice}
+  before(:each) do
+     @question = Factory.create(:aoi_question)
+     @prompt = @question.prompts.first
+  end
+
+  it "should display left choice text" do
+     @prompt.left_choice_text.should == @prompt.left_choice.data
+  end
   
+  it "should display right choice text" do
+     @prompt.right_choice_text.should == @prompt.right_choice.data
+  end
 end
diff --git a/spec/models/question_spec.rb b/spec/models/question_spec.rb
index a6d61f5..044468d 100644
--- a/spec/models/question_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/question_spec.rb
@@ -112,6 +112,12 @@ describe Question do
     @question_optional_information[:picked_prompt_id].should == saved_prompt_id
   end
   
+  it "should auto create ideas when 'ideas' attribute is set" do
+      @question = Factory.build(:question)
+      @question.ideas = %w(one two three)
+      @question.save
+      @question.choices.count.should == 3
+  end
   context "catchup algorithm" do 
 	  before(:all) do
 		  @catchup_q = Factory.create(:aoi_question)
@@ -277,7 +283,6 @@ describe Question do
 		  rows.first.should include("Record ID")
 		  rows.first.should include("Record Type")
 		  rows.first.should_not include("Idea ID")
-		  puts filename
 		  File.delete(filename).should_not be_nil 
 
 
@@ -294,7 +299,6 @@ describe Question do
 		  rows = FasterCSV.read(filename)
 		  rows.first.should include("Idea ID")
 		  rows.first.should_not include("Skip ID")
-		  puts filename
 		  File.delete(filename).should_not be_nil
 
 	  end
diff --git a/spec/models/visitor_spec.rb b/spec/models/visitor_spec.rb
index 39a1a7e..871f75b 100644
--- a/spec/models/visitor_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/models/visitor_spec.rb
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ describe Visitor do
   it {should have_many :skips}
   it {should have_many :clicks}
   it {should have_many :appearances}
+  it {should have_many :choices}
   
   before(:each) do
     @question = Factory.create(:aoi_question)
--
libgit2 0.21.2