 <p><code>redirect_to</code> will make the browser request a new page(here is your max_channel), and current context will be lost. That's why you cannot update <code>@text</code> in the <code>max_channel</code> page.</p> <p>while <code>render</code> will use current context to render <code>max_channel</code> page.</p> <p>you can get more from <a href="http://guides.rubyonrails.org/layouts_and_rendering.html#using-redirect-to" rel="nofollow">http://guides.rubyonrails.org/layouts_and_rendering.html#using-redirect-to</a>.</p> <p>You can save <code>@text</code> to somewhere(say your <code>sqlite</code>) and retrieve it in the method corresponding to <code>max_channel</code>.</p>