diff --git a/lib/pins.js b/lib/pins.js
index 4e0791d05..23b1364a3 100644
--- a/lib/pins.js
+++ b/lib/pins.js
@@ -2,20 +2,44 @@
 
 var Pins = module.exports;
 
-/*
-    takes contents of a pinFile (UTF8 string)
-    and the pin file's name
-    returns an array of of channel ids which are pinned
-
-    throw errors on pin logs with invalid pin data
+/*  Accepts a reference to an object, and...
+    either a string describing which log is being processed (backwards compatibility),
+    or a function which will log the error with all relevant data
 */
-Pins.calculateFromLog = function (pinFile, fileName) {
-    var pins = {};
-    pinFile.split('\n').filter((x)=>(x)).map((l) => JSON.parse(l)).forEach((l) => {
+var createLineHandler = Pins.createLineHandler = function (ref, errorHandler) {
+    var fileName;
+    if (typeof(errorHandler) === 'string') {
+        fileName = errorHandler;
+        errorHandler = function (label, data) {
+            console.error(label, {
+                log: fileName,
+                data: data,
+            });
+        };
+    }
+
+    // passing the reference to an object allows us to overwrite accumulated pins
+    // make sure to get ref.pins as the result
+    // it's a weird API but it's faster than unpinning manually
+    var pins = ref.pins = {};
+    return function (line) {
+        if (!Boolean(line)) { return; }
+
+        var l;
+        try {
+            l = JSON.parse(line);
+        } catch (e) {
+            return void errorHandler('PIN_LINE_PARSE_ERROR', line);
+        }
+
+        if (!Array.isArray(l)) {
+            return void errorHandler('PIN_LINE_NOT_FORMAT_ERROR', l);
+        }
+
         switch (l[0]) {
             case 'RESET': {
-                pins = {};
-                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { pins[x] = 1; }); }
+                pins = ref.pins = {};
+                if (l[1] && l[1].length) { l[1].forEach((x) => { ref.pins[x] = 1; }); }
                 //jshint -W086
                 // fallthrough
             }
@@ -28,16 +52,25 @@ Pins.calculateFromLog = function (pinFile, fileName) {
                 break;
             }
             default:
-                // FIXME logging
-                // TODO write to the error log
-                /* Log.error('CORRUPTED_PIN_LOG', {
-                    line: JSON.stringify(l),
-                    fileName: fileName,
-                }); */
-                console.error(new Error (JSON.stringify(l) + '  ' + fileName));
+                errorHandler("PIN_LINE_UNSUPPORTED_COMMAND", l);
         }
-    });
-    return Object.keys(pins);
+    };
+};
+
+/*
+    takes contents of a pinFile (UTF8 string)
+    and the pin file's name
+    returns an array of of channel ids which are pinned
+
+    throw errors on pin logs with invalid pin data
+*/
+Pins.calculateFromLog = function (pinFile, fileName) {
+    var ref = {};
+    var handler = createLineHandler(ref, fileName);
+
+    pinFile.split('\n').forEach(handler);
+    return Object.keys(ref.pins);
 };
 
 // TODO refactor to include a streaming version for use in rpc.js as well
+
diff --git a/rpc.js b/rpc.js
index 9943b0334..13f08f4e3 100644
--- a/rpc.js
+++ b/rpc.js
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ const Pinned = require('./scripts/pinned');
 const Saferphore = require("saferphore");
 const nThen = require("nthen");
 const getFolderSize = require("get-folder-size");
-
+const Pins = require("./lib/pins");
 
 
 var RPC = module.exports;
@@ -237,52 +237,21 @@ var loadUserPins = function (Env, publicKey, cb) {
         return cb(session.channels);
     }
 
-    // if channels aren't in memory. load them from disk
-    var pins = {};
-
-    var pin = function (channel) {
-        pins[channel] = true;
-    };
-
-    var unpin = function (channel) {
-        // TODO delete?
-        pins[channel] = false;
-    };
+    var ref = {};
+    var lineHandler = Pins.createLineHandler(ref, function (label, data) {
+        Log.error(label, {
+            log: publicKey,
+            data: data,
+        });
+    });
 
-    Env.pinStore.getMessages(publicKey, function (msg) {
-        // handle messages...
-        var parsed;
-        try {
-            parsed = JSON.parse(msg);
-            session.hasPinned = true;
-
-            switch (parsed[0]) {
-                case 'PIN':
-                    parsed[1].forEach(pin);
-                    break;
-                case 'UNPIN':
-                    parsed[1].forEach(unpin);
-                    break;
-                case 'RESET':
-                    // TODO just wipe out the object?
-                    Object.keys(pins).forEach(unpin);
-
-                    if (parsed[1] && parsed[1].length) {
-                        parsed[1].forEach(pin);
-                    }
-                    break;
-                default:
-                    Log.warn('INVALID_STORED_MESSAGE', msg);
-            }
-        } catch (e) {
-            Log.warn('STORED_PARSE_ERROR', e);
-        }
-    }, function () {
+    // if channels aren't in memory. load them from disk
+    Env.pinStore.getMessages(publicKey, lineHandler, function () {
         // no more messages
 
         // only put this into the cache if it completes
-        session.channels = pins;
-        cb(pins);
+        session.channels = ref.pins;
+        cb(ref.pins);
     });
 };