diff --git a/static/js/activity.js b/static/js/activity.js
index 0ccc423785..beeee72f33 100644
--- a/static/js/activity.js
+++ b/static/js/activity.js
@@ -308,11 +308,6 @@ function send_presence_to_server(want_redraw) {
     // DEFAULT_EVENT_QUEUE_TIMEOUT_SECS).
     server_events.check_for_unsuspend();
 
-    if (reload_state.is_in_progress()) {
-        blueslip.log("Skipping querying presence because reload in progress");
-        return;
-    }
-
     channel.post({
         url: '/json/users/me/presence',
         data: {
diff --git a/static/js/blueslip.js b/static/js/blueslip.js
index e41734e1de..3d2fd513d4 100644
--- a/static/js/blueslip.js
+++ b/static/js/blueslip.js
@@ -106,6 +106,9 @@ function report_error(msg, stack, opts) {
     // to include the CSRF token, our ajax call will fail.  The
     // elegant thing to do in that case is to either wait until that
     // setup is done or do it ourselves and then retry.
+    //
+    // Important: We don't use channel.js here so that exceptions
+    // always make it to the server even if reload_state.is_in_progress.
     $.ajax({
         type: 'POST',
         url: '/json/report/error',
diff --git a/static/js/channel.js b/static/js/channel.js
index 8a0fa2450f..b66cfaefd1 100644
--- a/static/js/channel.js
+++ b/static/js/channel.js
@@ -16,6 +16,13 @@ function remove_pending_request(jqXHR) {
 }
 
 function call(args, idempotent) {
+    if (reload_state.is_in_progress() && !args.ignore_reload) {
+        // If we're in the process of reloading, most HTTP requests
+        // are useless, with exceptions like cleaning up our event
+        // queue and blueslip (Which doesn't use channel.js).
+        return;
+    }
+
     // Wrap the error handlers to reload the page if we get a CSRF error
     // (What probably happened is that the user logged out in another tab).
     let orig_error = args.error;
diff --git a/static/js/server_events.js b/static/js/server_events.js
index edd7c5769b..b141a8a821 100644
--- a/static/js/server_events.js
+++ b/static/js/server_events.js
@@ -318,6 +318,7 @@ exports.cleanup_event_queue = function cleanup_event_queue() {
     channel.del({
         url: '/json/events',
         data: {queue_id: page_params.queue_id},
+        ignore_reload: true,
     });
 };