diff --git a/MeetingNotes/MeetingNotesDocument.swift b/MeetingNotes/MeetingNotesDocument.swift
index 7d2d878f..5d18a5c2 100644
--- a/MeetingNotes/MeetingNotesDocument.swift
+++ b/MeetingNotes/MeetingNotesDocument.swift
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ final class MeetingNotesDocument: ReferenceFileDocument {
         }
 
         syncedDocumentTrigger = doc.objectWillChange.sink {
-            Logger.syncflow.trace("\(self.id) ** objectWillChange **")
+            Logger.syncflow.trace("APPSYNC: \(self.id) ** objectWillChange **")
             self.objectWillChange.send()
         }
     }
@@ -111,13 +111,18 @@ final class MeetingNotesDocument: ReferenceFileDocument {
         // Set the identifier of this document, external from the Automerge document.
         id = wrappedDocument.id
         // Then deserialize the Automerge document from the wrappers data.
-        doc = try Document(wrappedDocument.data)
-        Logger.document
-            .debug(
-                "Created Automerge doc of ID \(self.id, privacy: .public) from CBOR encoded data of \(wrappedDocument.data.count, privacy: .public) bytes"
-            )
-        modelEncoder = AutomergeEncoder(doc: doc, strategy: .createWhenNeeded)
-        modelDecoder = AutomergeDecoder(doc: doc)
+        do {
+            doc = try Document(wrappedDocument.data)
+            Logger.document
+                .debug(
+                    "Created Automerge doc of ID \(self.id, privacy: .public) from CBOR encoded data of \(wrappedDocument.data.count, privacy: .public) bytes"
+                )
+            modelEncoder = AutomergeEncoder(doc: doc, strategy: .createWhenNeeded)
+            modelDecoder = AutomergeDecoder(doc: doc)
+        } catch {
+            Logger.document.error("Failed to construct Automerge doc from data: \(error.localizedDescription)")
+            throw error
+        }
         do {
             model = try modelDecoder.decode(MeetingNotesModel.self)
         } catch let DecodingError.dataCorrupted(context) {
@@ -152,7 +157,7 @@ final class MeetingNotesDocument: ReferenceFileDocument {
             .throttle(for: 1.0, scheduler: DispatchQueue.main, latest: true)
             .receive(on: RunLoop.main)
             .sink {
-                Logger.syncflow.trace("\(self.id) ** objectWillChange (1 sec delay) **")
+                Logger.syncflow.trace("APPSYNC: \(self.id) ** Automerge document objectWillChange (1 sec delay) **")
                 do {
                     try self.getModelUpdates()
                 } catch {
@@ -197,14 +202,14 @@ final class MeetingNotesDocument: ReferenceFileDocument {
 
     /// Updates the Automerge document with the current value from the model.
     func storeModelUpdates() throws {
-        Logger.syncflow.debug("Storing model updates")
+        Logger.syncflow.debug("APPSYNC: Storing model updates")
         try modelEncoder.encode(model)
         self.objectWillChange.send()
     }
 
     /// Updates the model document with any changed values in the Automerge document.
     func getModelUpdates() throws {
-        Logger.syncflow.debug("Loading model updates")
+        Logger.syncflow.debug("APPSYNC: Loading model updates")
         model = try modelDecoder.decode(MeetingNotesModel.self)
     }
 
diff --git a/MeetingNotes/Views/PeerSyncView.swift b/MeetingNotes/Views/PeerSyncView.swift
index 02963982..b738433c 100644
--- a/MeetingNotes/Views/PeerSyncView.swift
+++ b/MeetingNotes/Views/PeerSyncView.swift
@@ -134,12 +134,16 @@ struct PeerSyncView: View {
             listenerState = state
         })
         .task {
+            // NOTE: this task gets invoked on _every_ re-appearance of the view - kind of the async
+            // equivalent of .onAppear() {} closure structure.
+            //
+            // The result is this bit if repeatedly redundant, but covers the case where the app is
+            // first coming online and a default "???" value should be set whatever the inline default
+            // from the library can provide. Since this is an @AppStorage() setup, if there's a configured
+            // setting, this won't get hit and we're just waiting cycles with the check.
             if nameToDisplay == "???" {
                 // no user default is setup, so load a default value from the library
                 nameToDisplay = await peerToPeer.peerName
-            } else {
-                // overrides the library default name
-                await peerToPeer.setName(nameToDisplay)
             }
         }
     }