private is a little different because apart from the setter example a private method can't be called with an explicit receiver:
```ruby
pry
[1] pry(main)> class Foo
[1] pry(main)*   def private_method
[1] pry(main)*   end
[1] pry(main)*
[1] pry(main)*   def public_method
[1] pry(main)*     self.private_method
[1] pry(main)*   end
[1] pry(main)*
[1] pry(main)*   private :private_method
[1] pry(main)* end
=> Foo
[2] pry(main)> Foo.new.public_method
NoMethodError: private method `private_method' called for #<Foo:0x007fbc21beb880>
from (pry):6:in `public_method'
[3] pry(main)>
```
i trust your judgement on the refactor, not up to speed on http that much to make a good comment.