attempt at returning a 500 error if the params hash has a nil value

main_controller.rb

# Is this the proper way to detect whether any of the params has a nil value?
# I think it's being superseded by the before_filter because I see
# /Users/kaimiddleton/Sites/thundercat/vendor/plugins/fixie_whitelister/lib/white_list_helper.rb:34:in `strip_naughty_stuff'
# when I hit the browser with, say, http://localhost:3000/?/

class MainController < ApplicationController
  skip_before_filter :require_restrictive_access
  before_filter :main_sidebar, :only => [:index, :landing_page]

  def index
    if params.has_value? nil
      render :status => 500
      return
    end
    # ...
  end
  
  # ...
end