diff --git a/includes/FilterRunner.php b/includes/FilterRunner.php
index 1b6055fee..9230ee109 100644
--- a/includes/FilterRunner.php
+++ b/includes/FilterRunner.php
@@ -176,8 +176,6 @@ class FilterRunner {
 		);
 		$generator = $this->varGeneratorFactory->newGenerator( $this->vars );
 		$this->vars = $generator->addGenericVars()->getVariableHolder();
-
-		$this->vars->forFilter = true;
 		$this->ruleChecker = $this->ruleCheckerFactory->newRuleChecker( $this->vars );
 	}
 
diff --git a/includes/VariableGenerator/RCVariableGenerator.php b/includes/VariableGenerator/RCVariableGenerator.php
index 91ff84dc0..c6beb50de 100644
--- a/includes/VariableGenerator/RCVariableGenerator.php
+++ b/includes/VariableGenerator/RCVariableGenerator.php
@@ -233,7 +233,8 @@ class RCVariableGenerator extends VariableGenerator {
 
 		$this->addEditVars(
 			$this->wikiPageFactory->newFromTitle( $title ),
-			$this->contextUser
+			$this->contextUser,
+			false
 		);
 
 		return $this;
diff --git a/includes/VariableGenerator/VariableGenerator.php b/includes/VariableGenerator/VariableGenerator.php
index d91a912ef..826b8bde6 100644
--- a/includes/VariableGenerator/VariableGenerator.php
+++ b/includes/VariableGenerator/VariableGenerator.php
@@ -174,9 +174,11 @@ class VariableGenerator {
 	/**
 	 * @param WikiPage $page
 	 * @param UserIdentity $userIdentity The current user
+	 * @param bool $forFilter Whether the variables should be computed for an ongoing action
+	 *   being filtered
 	 * @return $this For chaining
 	 */
-	public function addEditVars( WikiPage $page, UserIdentity $userIdentity ): self {
+	public function addEditVars( WikiPage $page, UserIdentity $userIdentity, bool $forFilter = true ): self {
 		$this->vars->setLazyLoadVar( 'edit_diff', 'diff',
 			[ 'oldtext-var' => 'old_wikitext', 'newtext-var' => 'new_wikitext' ] );
 		$this->vars->setLazyLoadVar( 'edit_diff_pst', 'diff',
@@ -206,12 +208,14 @@ class VariableGenerator {
 			[
 				'text-var' => 'new_wikitext',
 				'article' => $page,
+				'forFilter' => $forFilter,
 				'contextUserIdentity' => $userIdentity
 			] );
 		$this->vars->setLazyLoadVar( 'old_links', 'links-from-wikitext-or-database',
 			[
 				'article' => $page,
 				'text-var' => 'old_wikitext',
+				'forFilter' => $forFilter,
 				'contextUserIdentity' => $userIdentity
 			] );
 		$this->vars->setLazyLoadVar( 'new_pst', 'parse-wikitext',
diff --git a/includes/Variables/LazyVariableComputer.php b/includes/Variables/LazyVariableComputer.php
index 004ede067..295008632 100644
--- a/includes/Variables/LazyVariableComputer.php
+++ b/includes/Variables/LazyVariableComputer.php
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ class LazyVariableComputer {
 				// this inference is ugly, but the name isn't accessible from here
 				// and we only want this for debugging
 				$varName = strpos( $parameters['text-var'], 'old_' ) === 0 ? 'old_links' : 'all_links';
-				if ( $vars->forFilter ) {
+				if ( $parameters['forFilter'] ?? false ) {
 					$this->logger->debug( "Loading $varName from DB" );
 					$links = $this->getLinksFromDB( $article );
 				} elseif ( $article->getContentModel() === CONTENT_MODEL_WIKITEXT ) {
diff --git a/includes/Variables/VariableHolder.php b/includes/Variables/VariableHolder.php
index 53028cae4..41b0684ea 100644
--- a/includes/Variables/VariableHolder.php
+++ b/includes/Variables/VariableHolder.php
@@ -13,9 +13,6 @@ class VariableHolder {
 	 */
 	private $mVars = [];
 
-	/** @var bool Whether this object is being used for an ongoing action being filtered */
-	public $forFilter = false;
-
 	/**
 	 * Utility function to translate an array with shape [ varname => value ] into a self instance
 	 *