diff --git a/chain/events/filter/index.go b/chain/events/filter/index.go
index 55b0639a2..45cabaa11 100644
--- a/chain/events/filter/index.go
+++ b/chain/events/filter/index.go
@@ -154,7 +154,10 @@ func (ei *EventIndex) CollectEvents(ctx context.Context, te *TipSetEvents, rever
 	}
 
 	isIndexedValue := func(b uint8) bool {
-		return b&types.EventFlagIndexedValue == types.EventFlagIndexedValue
+		// currently we mark the full entry as indexed if either the key
+		// or the value are indexed; in the future we will need finer-grained
+		// management of indices
+		return b&(types.EventFlagIndexedKey|types.EventFlagIndexedValue) > 0
 	}
 
 	for msgIdx, em := range ems {
diff --git a/chain/types/ethtypes/rlp.go b/chain/types/ethtypes/rlp.go
index c906c60dc..049ea6fc4 100644
--- a/chain/types/ethtypes/rlp.go
+++ b/chain/types/ethtypes/rlp.go
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@ func EncodeRLP(val interface{}) ([]byte, error) {
 }
 
 func encodeRLPListItems(list []interface{}) (result []byte, err error) {
-	var res []byte
+	res := []byte{}
 	for _, elem := range list {
 		encoded, err := encodeRLP(elem)
 		if err != nil {
@@ -165,7 +165,7 @@ func decodeLength(data []byte, lenInBytes int) (length int, err error) {
 
 func decodeListElems(data []byte, length int) (res []interface{}, err error) {
 	totalConsumed := 0
-	var result []interface{}
+	result := []interface{}{}
 
 	for i := 0; totalConsumed < length && i < maxListElements; i++ {
 		elem, consumed, err := decodeRLP(data[totalConsumed:])