diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d3943a4..f53dc9a 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -170,7 +170,9 @@ So the number of times something happened is the sum, over stored events,
 of `value` for events tagged `coalesced` and 1 for the rest — for a valueless
 event like `command`, simply `SUM(COALESCE(value, 1))`. Counting rows still
 works for "was it used, by how many servers"; it now undercounts "how many
-times", by design.
+times", by design. One exception: an event that already carries 32 tags,
+or its own `coalesced` tag, has its count sent without the `coalesced` tag
+(the server accepts at most 32), so that count reads as a single report.
 
 A minute is long enough that a command dispatched every tick is one event a
 minute instead of 1,200, and short enough that a person trying a command
@@ -267,7 +269,8 @@ Shade it into a plugin jar; it is one class.
 
 `value` is omitted when not given, and when it is NaN or infinite (neither
 is JSON); `tags` always holds at least `version`, and
-`install` whenever the client has an [installation ID](#every-event-carries-a-random-server-id). The server assigns the
+`install` whenever the client has an [installation ID](#every-event-carries-a-random-server-id), and the count of a
+[coalesced](#repeated-events-are-coalesced) event also carries `coalesced`. The server assigns the
 timestamp. A `201` is success; anything else is logged at `FINE` and dropped.
 
 Redirects are not followed. The body is streamed with a fixed length, so
diff --git a/src/main/java/software/stephenson/trace/TraceClient.java b/src/main/java/software/stephenson/trace/TraceClient.java
index b894591..f9967cc 100644
--- a/src/main/java/software/stephenson/trace/TraceClient.java
+++ b/src/main/java/software/stephenson/trace/TraceClient.java
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@
  * Reports usage events to a trace server, and never gets in the way of the
  * program doing the reporting.
  *
- * <p>Three properties hold for every call to {@link #report}:
+ * <p>Four properties hold for every call to {@link #report}:
  *
  * <ul>
  *   <li><b>It returns immediately.</b> The HTTP call happens on a single
@@ -774,7 +774,10 @@ public void report(String name) {
      * <p>So the number of times an event happened is the sum, over the
      * events the server stored, of {@code value} where the
      * {@value #COALESCED_TAG} tag is present and 1 where it is not -- for
-     * a valueless event, simply {@code COALESCE(value, 1)}.
+     * a valueless event, simply {@code COALESCE(value, 1)}. The one
+     * exception: a count is not tagged when the event already carries
+     * {@value #MAX_TAGS} tags or its own {@value #COALESCED_TAG} tag, and
+     * such a count is then indistinguishable from a single report.
      *
      * <p>{@code startup} is never coalesced, nor held back: every one is
      * sent at once.
@@ -920,10 +923,9 @@ int coalescing() {
      * Sends every count still being coalesced (see {@link #report(String,
      * Double, Map)}), then stops the sending thread, giving reports already
      * queued up to {@value #READ_TIMEOUT_MS} ms in total to be sent first.
-     * A program that
-     * reports and then exits within milliseconds -- a CLI -- would otherwise
-     * lose its one event to the race between queueing it and the thread
-     * picking it up. The bound still holds: an unreachable server delays exit
+     * A program that reports and then exits within milliseconds -- a CLI --
+     * would otherwise lose its one event to the race between queueing it
+     * and the thread picking it up. The bound still holds: an unreachable server delays exit
      * by at most the timeout, never a hang; whatever has not been sent by
      * then is dropped. Safe to call more than once, and on a disabled client.
      */
@@ -1176,8 +1178,10 @@ public Builder installIdFile(File installIdFile) {
          * {@code [trace]}: a report the server did not answer {@code 201}
          * to or that could not be delivered, and a server-wide config or
          * install ID file that could not be read or written in
-         * {@link #build()}. A report dropped because the queue is full is
-         * not mentioned. Optional; without one, nothing is logged.
+         * {@link #build()}. A report dropped because the queue is full, or
+         * because {@value TraceClient#MAX_COALESCED_EVENTS} other events are
+         * already being counted, is not mentioned. Optional; without one,
+         * nothing is logged.
          */
         public Builder logger(Logger logger) {
             this.logger = logger;