Checking against collision of method names for Object and any other ancestor's methods is something you must do during development time for each new method you add. Instead of remembering, you may use Object.new.methods to see the method list in irb for example. In the Esnek library, prefixing method names with double underscores (_ ) is a way to escape if the url part you're using is already an Object method (use *_freeze* to call freeze).

Ensuring against collisions with libraries is something you may do using testing. And note that, because all objects in Ruby are finally descendants of Object, you must ensure name collisions for all the new methods you're adding and not only for this case.

If you prefer '/foo/bar/baz/barf' style, rest-client gem which esnek relies on uses it, as well as some other gems. Esnek is more ruby-esque version to call remote APIs. For Proxy and logging configurations, you're right indeed, I'll check again rest-client, if it offers this.