diff --git a/changelog.d/3826.misc b/changelog.d/3826.misc
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..a4d9a012f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/3826.misc
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+add some logging for the keyring queue
diff --git a/synapse/crypto/keyring.py b/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
index 9d497abf1..d89f94c21 100644
--- a/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
+++ b/synapse/crypto/keyring.py
@@ -41,6 +41,7 @@ from synapse.api.errors import Codes, SynapseError
 from synapse.crypto.keyclient import fetch_server_key
 from synapse.util import logcontext, unwrapFirstError
 from synapse.util.logcontext import (
+    LoggingContext,
     PreserveLoggingContext,
     preserve_fn,
     run_in_background,
@@ -217,23 +218,34 @@ class Keyring(object):
             servers have completed. Follows the synapse rules of logcontext
             preservation.
         """
+        loop_count = 1
         while True:
             wait_on = [
-                self.key_downloads[server_name]
+                (server_name, self.key_downloads[server_name])
                 for server_name in server_names
                 if server_name in self.key_downloads
             ]
-            if wait_on:
-                with PreserveLoggingContext():
-                    yield defer.DeferredList(wait_on)
-            else:
+            if not wait_on:
                 break
+            logger.info(
+                "Waiting for existing lookups for %s to complete [loop %i]",
+                [w[0] for w in wait_on], loop_count,
+            )
+            with PreserveLoggingContext():
+                yield defer.DeferredList((w[1] for w in wait_on))
+
+            loop_count += 1
+
+        ctx = LoggingContext.current_context()
 
         def rm(r, server_name_):
-            self.key_downloads.pop(server_name_, None)
+            with PreserveLoggingContext(ctx):
+                logger.debug("Releasing key lookup lock on %s", server_name_)
+                self.key_downloads.pop(server_name_, None)
             return r
 
         for server_name, deferred in server_to_deferred.items():
+            logger.debug("Got key lookup lock on %s", server_name)
             self.key_downloads[server_name] = deferred
             deferred.addBoth(rm, server_name)
 
diff --git a/synapse/federation/federation_base.py b/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
index 5be8e66fb..61782ae1c 100644
--- a/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
+++ b/synapse/federation/federation_base.py
@@ -143,11 +143,31 @@ class FederationBase(object):
         def callback(_, pdu):
             with logcontext.PreserveLoggingContext(ctx):
                 if not check_event_content_hash(pdu):
-                    logger.warn(
-                        "Event content has been tampered, redacting %s: %s",
-                        pdu.event_id, pdu.get_pdu_json()
-                    )
-                    return prune_event(pdu)
+                    # let's try to distinguish between failures because the event was
+                    # redacted (which are somewhat expected) vs actual ball-tampering
+                    # incidents.
+                    #
+                    # This is just a heuristic, so we just assume that if the keys are
+                    # about the same between the redacted and received events, then the
+                    # received event was probably a redacted copy (but we then use our
+                    # *actual* redacted copy to be on the safe side.)
+                    redacted_event = prune_event(pdu)
+                    if (
+                        set(six.iterkeys(redacted_event)) == set(six.iterkeys(pdu)) and
+                        set(six.iterkeys(redacted_event.content))
+                            == set(six.iterkeys(pdu.content))
+                    ):
+                        logger.info(
+                            "Event %s seems to have been redacted; using our redacted "
+                            "copy",
+                            pdu.event_id,
+                        )
+                    else:
+                        logger.warning(
+                            "Event %s content has been tampered, redacting",
+                            pdu.event_id, pdu.get_pdu_json(),
+                        )
+                    return redacted_event
 
                 if self.spam_checker.check_event_for_spam(pdu):
                     logger.warn(
@@ -162,8 +182,8 @@ class FederationBase(object):
             failure.trap(SynapseError)
             with logcontext.PreserveLoggingContext(ctx):
                 logger.warn(
-                    "Signature check failed for %s",
-                    pdu.event_id,
+                    "Signature check failed for %s: %s",
+                    pdu.event_id, failure.getErrorMessage(),
                 )
             return failure
 
diff --git a/synapse/storage/keys.py b/synapse/storage/keys.py
index f54797760..a1331c1a6 100644
--- a/synapse/storage/keys.py
+++ b/synapse/storage/keys.py
@@ -134,6 +134,7 @@ class KeyStore(SQLBaseStore):
         """
         key_id = "%s:%s" % (verify_key.alg, verify_key.version)
 
+        # XXX fix this to not need a lock (#3819)
         def _txn(txn):
             self._simple_upsert_txn(
                 txn,