I get this same behavior and I don't like it.

My way around this is what has been suggested:
- Before creating a context view, start in Project mode. Set it to show active projects only. Then switch to Context view and build your context view or perspective normally.
This is the only way I've found to exclude the On Hold projects.

Is OF supposed to work this way? OR is it some kind of bug?

Sorry for the confusion! After a bit of research, it looks like a previous release of OmniFocus introduced a bug. Specifically, "On Hold" projects would appear in Project view with the Remaining filter active in the sidebar, and the actions would appear in the main content outline with the Availability filter set to Remaining. Switch to Context view, though, and those items were hidden.

We got several emails from customers confused by that inconsistency, asking that those actions be made visible in Context view.

The change you're posting about here was a bug fix, in other words, but it looks like the item was accidentally left out of the release notes for version 1.9. Apologies!

We do want that filter to behave consistently between Context and Project view, but there may be something else we can do to adjust things for your workflow without reverting to the previous broken state. Contact the [EMAIL="omnifocus@omnigroup.com"]support ninjas[/EMAIL] and we can file a feature request for you...