diff --git a/web/RdfDbChannel.ts b/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
--- a/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
+++ b/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ export class RdfDbChannel {
   sendMessage(body: string): boolean {
     // one try, best effort, true if we think it worked
     if (!this.ws || this.ws.readyState !== this.ws.OPEN) {
+      log("dropping message: " + body);
       return false;
     }
     log("send patch to server, " + body.length + " bytes");