diff --git a/src/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java b/src/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
index b3adfd8a9..39a948ea7 100644
--- a/src/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
+++ b/src/java/com/threerings/presents/client/BlockingCommunicator.java
@@ -684,15 +684,23 @@ public class BlockingCommunicator extends Communicator
             super("BlockingCommunicator_Writer");
         }
 
+        @Override
+        public synchronized void shutdown ()
+        {
+            // we want to finish off what's in our queue before we actually shutdown
+            postMessage(new TerminationMessage());
+        }
+
         @Override
         protected void iterate ()
         {
             // fetch the next message from the queue
             UpstreamMessage msg = _msgq.get();
 
-            // if this is a termination message, we're being requested to exit, so we want to bail
-            // now rather than continuing
+            // if this is a termination message, we're being requested to exit, so we call
+            // super.shutdown() to mark ourselves as not running and then return
             if (msg instanceof TerminationMessage) {
+                super.shutdown();
                 return;
             }
 
@@ -719,14 +727,6 @@ public class BlockingCommunicator extends Communicator
         {
             writerDidExit();
         }
-
-        @Override
-        protected void kick ()
-        {
-            // post a bogus message to the outgoing queue to ensure that the writer thread notices
-            // that it's time to go
-            postMessage(new TerminationMessage());
-        }
     }
 
     /**