diff --git a/source/lib/debug.cpp b/source/lib/debug.cpp
index cf6122b158..00f7a7670e 100644
--- a/source/lib/debug.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/debug.cpp
@@ -155,7 +155,7 @@ void debug_filter_clear()
 		tags[i] = 0;
 }
 
-static bool filter_allows(const char* text)
+bool debug_filter_allows(const char* text)
 {
 	uint i;
 	for(i = 0; ; i++)
@@ -187,7 +187,7 @@ void debug_printf(const char* fmt, ...)
 	vsnprintf(buf, MAX_CHARS-1, fmt, ap);
 	va_end(ap);
 
-	if(filter_allows(buf))
+	if(debug_filter_allows(buf))
 		debug_puts(buf);
 }
 
@@ -224,7 +224,7 @@ void debug_wprintf(const wchar_t* fmt, ...)
 	// .. paranoia: overflow is impossible
 	debug_assert(bytes_written <= MAX_BYTES);
 
-	if(filter_allows(mbs_buf))
+	if(debug_filter_allows(mbs_buf))
 		debug_puts(mbs_buf);
 }
 
diff --git a/source/lib/debug.h b/source/lib/debug.h
index db62cf6e5c..b8d7e1fcc7 100644
--- a/source/lib/debug.h
+++ b/source/lib/debug.h
@@ -253,7 +253,7 @@ extern ErrorReaction debug_display_error(const wchar_t* description,
  * we don't want to require different LOGn() macros that are enabled
  * depending on "debug level", because changing that entails lengthy
  * compiles and it's too coarse-grained. instead, we require all
- * strings to start with "tag_string:" (exact case and no quotes;
+ * strings to start with "tag_string|" (exact case and no quotes;
  * the alphanumeric-only <tag_string> identifies output type).
  * they are then subject to filtering: only if the tag has been
  * "added" via debug_filter_add is the appendant string displayed.
@@ -285,6 +285,13 @@ extern void debug_filter_remove(const char* tag);
  **/
 extern void debug_filter_clear();
 
+/**
+ * indicate if the given text would be printed.
+ * useful for a series of debug_printfs - avoids needing to add a tag to
+ * each of their format strings.
+ **/
+extern bool debug_filter_allows(const char* text);
+
 
 /**
  * write to memory buffer (fast)
diff --git a/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp b/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
index 94ac177354..a95e20b381 100644
--- a/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
+++ b/source/lib/res/file/file_stats.cpp
@@ -288,6 +288,9 @@ template<typename T> int percent(T num, T divisor)
 
 void file_stats_dump()
 {
+	if(!debug_filter_allows("FILE_STATS|"))
+		return;
+
 	const double KB = 1e3; const double MB = 1e6; const double ms = 1e-3;
 
 	debug_printf("--------------------------------------------------------------------------------\n");