SharePoint list 'show filter choices' mystery

When we face any product limitation issue or call it as default SharePoint behavior then it’s difficult to conclude or explain to the customer that this is by design.

Filter Web Parts connect to Web Parts containing one or more sets of data to change the view of the data. The filter Web part can be visible on the page, to ask for user input, such as a date or text, or they can be invisible, as is the case with the Current User filter, which filters data based on the user who is logged on to the computer.

Problem Description:  Some of SharePoint list’s which are present on my site collection are not displaying the list of content types; instead they are showing an option “show filter choices”

While researching on the issue, I found one article which clearly suggested that this happens because of increase in the number of items in the list.

Million Thanks to Nauplius for publishing this article: http://sharepoint.nauplius.net/2010/09/sharepoint-list-filter-problems-or.html

In the above mentioned article, it clearly mentioned that when the list items crosses beyond 500 items then it will the option “show filter choices” and Microsoft place this option because of performance problems.

Please let me know in case of any queries/questions regarding the above mentioned information.

Thank you.