diff --git a/services/real-time/app.coffee b/services/real-time/app.coffee
index 89f0cdfb36..f468ad2d49 100644
--- a/services/real-time/app.coffee
+++ b/services/real-time/app.coffee
@@ -53,6 +53,11 @@ app.get "/", (req, res, next) ->
 app.get "/status", (req, res, next) ->
 	res.send "real-time-sharelatex is alive"
 
+app.get "/debug/events", (req, res, next) ->
+	Settings.debugEvents = parseInt(req.query?.count,10) || 20
+	logger.log {count: Settings.debugEvents}, "starting debug mode"
+	res.send "debug mode will log next #{Settings.debugEvents} events"
+
 rclient = require("redis-sharelatex").createClient(Settings.redis.realtime)
 app.get "/health_check/redis", (req, res, next) ->
 	rclient.healthCheck (error) ->
diff --git a/services/real-time/app/coffee/DocumentUpdaterController.coffee b/services/real-time/app/coffee/DocumentUpdaterController.coffee
index a2bd3f3e77..209af3c0bf 100644
--- a/services/real-time/app/coffee/DocumentUpdaterController.coffee
+++ b/services/real-time/app/coffee/DocumentUpdaterController.coffee
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ module.exports = DocumentUpdaterController =
 	listenForUpdatesFromDocumentUpdater: (io) ->
 		rclient.subscribe "applied-ops"
 		rclient.on "message", (channel, message) ->
+			EventLogger.debugEvent(channel, message) if settings.debugEvents > 0
 			DocumentUpdaterController._processMessageFromDocumentUpdater(io, channel, message)
 		
 	_processMessageFromDocumentUpdater: (io, channel, message) ->
@@ -24,7 +25,9 @@ module.exports = DocumentUpdaterController =
 				return
 			if message.op?
 				if message._id?
-					EventLogger.checkEventOrder("applied-ops", message._id, message)
+					status = EventLogger.checkEventOrder("applied-ops", message._id, message)
+					if status is 'duplicate'
+						return # skip duplicate events
 				DocumentUpdaterController._applyUpdateFromDocumentUpdater(io, message.doc_id, message.op)
 			else if message.error?
 				DocumentUpdaterController._processErrorFromDocumentUpdater(io, message.doc_id, message.error, message)
@@ -33,6 +36,11 @@ module.exports = DocumentUpdaterController =
 
 	_applyUpdateFromDocumentUpdater: (io, doc_id, update) ->
 		clientList = io.sockets.clients(doc_id)
+		# avoid unnecessary work if no clients are connected
+		if clientList.length is 0
+			return
+		# send updates to clients
+		logger.log doc_id: doc_id, version: update.v, source: update.meta?.source, socketIoClients: (client.id for client in clientList), "distributing updates to clients"
 		seen = {}
 		# send messages only to unique clients (due to duplicate entries in io.sockets.clients)
 		for client in clientList when not seen[client.id]
diff --git a/services/real-time/app/coffee/EventLogger.coffee b/services/real-time/app/coffee/EventLogger.coffee
index 3baf734ead..332973659b 100644
--- a/services/real-time/app/coffee/EventLogger.coffee
+++ b/services/real-time/app/coffee/EventLogger.coffee
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 logger = require 'logger-sharelatex'
 metrics = require 'metrics-sharelatex'
+settings = require 'settings-sharelatex'
 
 # keep track of message counters to detect duplicate and out of order events
 # messsage ids have the format "UNIQUEHOSTKEY-COUNTER"
@@ -8,10 +9,18 @@ EVENT_LOG_COUNTER = {}
 EVENT_LOG_TIMESTAMP = {}
 EVENT_LAST_CLEAN_TIMESTAMP = 0
 
+# counter for debug logs
+COUNTER = 0
+
 module.exports = EventLogger =
 
 	MAX_STALE_TIME_IN_MS: 3600 * 1000
 
+	debugEvent: (channel, message) ->
+		if settings.debugEvents > 0
+			logger.log {channel:channel, message:message, counter: COUNTER++}, "logging event"
+			settings.debugEvents--
+
 	checkEventOrder: (channel, message_id, message) ->
 		return if typeof(message_id) isnt 'string'
 		return if !(result = message_id.match(/^(.*)-(\d+)$/))
@@ -26,11 +35,11 @@ module.exports = EventLogger =
 			return # order is ok
 		if (count == previous)
 			metrics.inc "event.#{channel}.duplicate"
-			# logger.error {key:key, previous: previous, count:count, message:message}, "duplicate event"
+			logger.warn {channel:channel, message_id:message_id}, "duplicate event"
 			return "duplicate"
 		else
 			metrics.inc "event.#{channel}.out-of-order"
-			# logger.error {key:key, previous: previous, count:count, message:message}, "events out of order"
+			logger.warn {channel:channel, message_id:message_id, key:key, previous: previous, count:count}, "out of order event"
 			return "out-of-order"
 
 	_storeEventCount: (key, count) ->
diff --git a/services/real-time/app/coffee/WebsocketLoadBalancer.coffee b/services/real-time/app/coffee/WebsocketLoadBalancer.coffee
index 4095e36e68..8fed080b68 100644
--- a/services/real-time/app/coffee/WebsocketLoadBalancer.coffee
+++ b/services/real-time/app/coffee/WebsocketLoadBalancer.coffee
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ module.exports = WebsocketLoadBalancer =
 	listenForEditorEvents: (io) ->
 		@rclientSub.subscribe "editor-events"
 		@rclientSub.on "message", (channel, message) ->
+			EventLogger.debugEvent(channel, message) if Settings.debugEvents > 0
 			WebsocketLoadBalancer._processEditorEvent io, channel, message
 
 	_processEditorEvent: (io, channel, message) ->
@@ -38,9 +39,14 @@ module.exports = WebsocketLoadBalancer =
 				io.sockets.emit(message.message, message.payload...)
 			else if message.room_id?
 				if message._id?
-					EventLogger.checkEventOrder("editor-events", message._id, message)
+					status = EventLogger.checkEventOrder("editor-events", message._id, message)
+					if status is "duplicate"
+						return # skip duplicate events
 				# send messages only to unique clients (due to duplicate entries in io.sockets.clients)
 				clientList = io.sockets.clients(message.room_id)
+				# avoid unnecessary work if no clients are connected
+				return if clientList.length is 0
+				logger.log {channel:channel, message: message.message, room_id: message.room_id, message_id: message._id, socketIoClients: (client.id for client in clientList)}, "distributing event to clients"
 				seen = {}
 				for client in clientList when not seen[client.id]
 					seen[client.id] = true
diff --git a/services/real-time/test/unit/coffee/EventLoggerTests.coffee b/services/real-time/test/unit/coffee/EventLoggerTests.coffee
index b0ba546067..93350af848 100644
--- a/services/real-time/test/unit/coffee/EventLoggerTests.coffee
+++ b/services/real-time/test/unit/coffee/EventLoggerTests.coffee
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ describe 'EventLogger', ->
 		@start = Date.now()
 		tk.freeze(new Date(@start))
 		@EventLogger = SandboxedModule.require modulePath, requires:
-			"logger-sharelatex": @logger = {error: sinon.stub()}
+			"logger-sharelatex": @logger = {error: sinon.stub(), warn: sinon.stub()}
 			"metrics-sharelatex": @metrics = {inc: sinon.stub()}
 		@channel = "applied-ops"
 		@id_1 = "random-hostname:abc-1"