diff --git a/mergeManager.cpp b/mergeManager.cpp
index b92e36d..48ed39e 100644
--- a/mergeManager.cpp
+++ b/mergeManager.cpp
@@ -116,7 +116,7 @@ void mergeManager::update_progress(mergeStats * s, int delta) {
  * bytes_consumed_by_merger = sum(bytes_in_small_delta)
  */
 void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
-#define PRINT_SKIP 100
+#define PRINT_SKIP 1000
 
   if(force || s->need_tick) {
 
@@ -129,7 +129,9 @@ void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
 
       int64_t overshoot = 0;
       int64_t raw_overshoot = 0;
-      int64_t overshoot_fudge = (int64_t)((s->out_progress-0.5) * 18.0 * 1024.0 * 1024.0);
+//      int64_t overshoot_fudge = (int64_t)((s->out_progress-0.5) * 18.0 * 1024.0 * 1024.0);
+      double skew = 0.1; // should be between 0 and 0.5.  0 means that there is no 'catch up' after merge commit
+      int64_t overshoot_fudge = (int64_t)((s->out_progress-skew) * (6 / (1.0-skew)) * 1024.0 * 1024.0);  // should be some function of R, delta interval, and force interval.
       int spin = 0;
       double total_sleep = 0.0;
       do{
@@ -159,7 +161,7 @@ void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
         } else {
           s->print_skipped++;
         }
-        if(overshoot > 0 && (raw_overshoot > 0 || total_sleep < 0.5)) {
+        if(overshoot > 0 && (raw_overshoot > 0 || total_sleep < 1)) {
           // throttle
           // it took "elapsed" seconds to process "tick_length_bytes" mb
           double sleeptime = 2.0 * (double)overshoot / bps;
@@ -168,7 +170,7 @@ void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
 
           double max_c0_sleep = 0.1;
           double min_c0_sleep = 0.05;
-          double max_c1_sleep = 1.0;
+          double max_c1_sleep = 0.1;
           double min_c1_sleep = 0.1;
           double max_sleep = s->merge_level == 0 ? max_c0_sleep : max_c1_sleep;
           double min_sleep = s->merge_level == 0 ? min_c0_sleep : min_c1_sleep;
@@ -179,8 +181,10 @@ void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
           spin ++;
           total_sleep += sleeptime;
 
-          if((spin > 40) || (total_sleep > (max_sleep * 20))) {
-            printf("\nMerge thread %d Overshoot: raw=%lld, d=%lld eff=%lld Throttle min(1, %6f) spin %d, total_sleep %6.3f\n", s->merge_level, raw_overshoot, overshoot_fudge, overshoot, sleeptime, spin, total_sleep);
+          if((spin > 40) || (total_sleep > (max_sleep * 20.0))) {
+//            if(spin > 20 || s->merge_level == 0) {
+              printf("\nMerge thread %d Overshoot: raw=%lld, d=%lld eff=%lld Throttle min(1, %6f) spin %d, total_sleep %6.3f\n", s->merge_level, raw_overshoot, overshoot_fudge, overshoot, sleeptime, spin, total_sleep);
+//            }
           }
 
           struct timeval now;
@@ -195,7 +199,7 @@ void mergeManager::tick(mergeStats * s, bool block, bool force) {
           if(s->merge_level == 0) { update_progress(c1, 0); }
           if(s->merge_level == 1) { update_progress(c2, 0); }
         } else {
-          if(overshoot > 0) { s->need_tick = 1; }
+          if(overshoot > 0) { s->need_tick = true; }
           break;
         }
       } while(1);
diff --git a/merger.cpp b/merger.cpp
index 2efe2e8..e3c90eb 100644
--- a/merger.cpp
+++ b/merger.cpp
@@ -390,10 +390,10 @@ void *diskMergeThread(void*arg)
     return 0;
 }
 
-#define FORCE_INTERVAL (1 * 1024 * 1024) // XXX do not hardcode FORCE_INTERVAL
+#define FORCE_INTERVAL (5 * 1024 * 1024) // XXX do not hardcode FORCE_INTERVAL
 
 static void periodically_force(int xid, int *i, diskTreeComponent * forceMe, stasis_log_t * log) {
-  if(0 && *i > FORCE_INTERVAL) {
+  if(*i > FORCE_INTERVAL) {
     if(forceMe) forceMe->force(xid);
     log->force_tail(log, LOG_FORCE_WAL);
     *i = 0;