perhaps I am missing something, but this seems annoying:

vax@linkdead bash$ more +COMMENT 
Missing filename ("less -\?" for help)
vax@linkdead bash$ more -- +COMMENT 
Missing filename ("less -\?" for help)
vax@linkdead bash$ more ++ +COMMENT 
String is required after -+
vax@linkdead bash$ /usr/bin/more < +COMMENT 
(aha! the holy grail!)

btw, there is this cool function, called getopt....

Cced to "less" author, as seemed appropriate.

It suprised me a bit to see "more" gone and "less" there... :)
Which is not to say I don't like less; I had less compiled in
/usr/local/bin for ages...