diff --git a/light9/web/RdfDbChannel.ts b/light9/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
--- a/light9/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
+++ b/light9/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
@@ -57,9 +57,9 @@ export class RdfDbChannel {
     return true;
   }
 
-  disconnect() {
+  disconnect(why:string) {
     // will be followed by an autoconnect
-    log("disconnect requested");
+    log("disconnect requested:", why);
     if (this.ws !== undefined) {
       const closeHandler = this.ws.onclose?.bind(this.ws);
       if (!closeHandler) {
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@ export class RdfDbChannel {
 
   private onWsError(e: Event) {
     log("ws error", e);
-    this.disconnect();
+    this.disconnect("ws error");
     this.updateStatus();
   }
 
diff --git a/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts b/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
--- a/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
+++ b/light9/web/SyncedGraph.ts
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@ export class SyncedGraph {
     this.autoDeps = new AutoDependencies(this);
     this.autoDeps.graphError.subscribe((e) => {
       log("graph learned of error - reconnecting", e);
-      this.client.disconnect();
+      this.client.disconnect("graph error");
     });
     this.clearGraph();
 
diff --git a/light9/web/patch.ts b/light9/web/patch.ts
--- a/light9/web/patch.ts
+++ b/light9/web/patch.ts
@@ -77,6 +77,9 @@ export class Patch {
   }
 
   dump(): string {
+    if (this.dels.size + this.adds.size > 20) {
+      return this.summary();
+    }
     const lines: string[] = [];
     const s = (term: N3.Term): string => {
       if (term.termType == "Literal") return term.value;
diff --git a/light9/web/rdfdbclient.ts b/light9/web/rdfdbclient.ts
--- a/light9/web/rdfdbclient.ts
+++ b/light9/web/rdfdbclient.ts
@@ -44,8 +44,8 @@ export class RdfDbClient {
     this._continueSending();
   }
 
-  disconnect() {
-    this.channel.disconnect();
+  disconnect(why:string) {
+    this.channel.disconnect(why);
   }
 
   async _continueSending() {