diff --git a/tailbone/templates/datasync/status.mako b/tailbone/templates/datasync/status.mako
index c80615ce..29ca00cf 100644
--- a/tailbone/templates/datasync/status.mako
+++ b/tailbone/templates/datasync/status.mako
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@
 <%def name="page_content()">
   % if expose_websockets and not supervisor_error:
       <b-notification type="is-warning"
-                      :active="websocketClosed"
+                      :active="websocketBroken"
                       :closable="false">
         Server connection was broken - please refresh page to see accurate status!
       </b-notification>
@@ -135,7 +135,7 @@
     % if expose_websockets and not supervisor_error:
 
         ThisPageData.ws = null
-        ThisPageData.websocketClosed = false
+        ThisPageData.websocketBroken = false
 
         ThisPage.mounted = function() {
 
@@ -147,7 +147,14 @@
             let that = this
 
             this.ws.onclose = (event) => {
-                that.websocketClosed = true
+                // websocket closing means 1 of 2 things:
+                // - user navigated away from page intentionally
+                // - server connection was broken somehow
+                // only one of those is "bad" and we only want to
+                // display warning in 2nd case.  so we simply use a
+                // brief delay to "rule out" the 1st scenario
+                setTimeout(() => { that.websocketBroken = true },
+                           3000)
             }
 
             this.ws.onmessage = (event) => {