diff --git a/collect/collect.go b/collect/collect.go
index 0e6a3db7cf..3ff2c0c810 100644
--- a/collect/collect.go
+++ b/collect/collect.go
@@ -50,6 +50,9 @@ var (
 	// Dropped is the number of dropped data points due to a full queue.
 	dropped int64
 
+	// Dropped is the number of discarded data points due to being invalid
+	discarded int64
+
 	// Sent is the number of sent data points.
 	sent int64
 
@@ -71,6 +74,7 @@ var (
 
 const (
 	descCollectAlloc             = "Total number of bytes allocated and still in use by the runtime (via runtime.ReadMemStats)."
+	descCollectDiscarded         = "Counter of discarded data points due to being invalid."
 	descCollectDropped           = "Counter of dropped data points due to the queue being full."
 	descCollectGoRoutines        = "Total number of goroutines that currently exist (via runtime.NumGoroutine)."
 	descCollectGcCpuFraction     = "fraction of CPU time used by GC"
@@ -131,6 +135,13 @@ func InitChan(tsdbhost *url.URL, root string, ch chan *opentsdb.DataPoint) error
 		slock.Unlock()
 		return
 	})
+	Set("collect.discarded", Tags, func() (i interface{}) {
+		slock.Lock()
+		i = discarded
+		slock.Unlock()
+		return
+	})
+
 	Set("collect.sent", Tags, func() (i interface{}) {
 		slock.Lock()
 		i = sent
@@ -176,6 +187,7 @@ func InitChan(tsdbhost *url.URL, root string, ch chan *opentsdb.DataPoint) error
 	metadata.AddMetricMeta(metricRoot+"collect.queued", metadata.Gauge, metadata.Item, descCollectQueued)
 	metadata.AddMetricMeta(metricRoot+"collect.sent", metadata.Counter, metadata.PerSecond, descCollectSent)
 	metadata.AddMetricMeta(metricRoot+"collect.dropped", metadata.Counter, metadata.PerSecond, descCollectDropped)
+	metadata.AddMetricMeta(metricRoot+"collect.discarded", metadata.Counter, metadata.PerSecond, descCollectDiscarded)
 	// Make sure these get zeroed out instead of going unknown on restart
 	Add("collect.post.error", Tags, 0)
 	Add("collect.post.bad_status", Tags, 0)
diff --git a/collect/queue.go b/collect/queue.go
index 8212e8c909..50dcbcc40d 100644
--- a/collect/queue.go
+++ b/collect/queue.go
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ import (
 func queuer() {
 	for dp := range tchan {
 		if err := dp.Clean(); err != nil {
-			atomic.AddInt64(&dropped, 1)
+			atomic.AddInt64(&discarded, 1)
 			continue // if anything gets this far that can't be made valid, just drop it silently.
 		}
 		qlock.Lock()
@@ -32,6 +32,10 @@ func queuer() {
 			queue = append(queue, dp)
 			select {
 			case dp = <-tchan:
+				if err := dp.Clean(); err != nil {
+					atomic.AddInt64(&discarded, 1)
+					break // if anything gets this far that can't be made valid, just drop it silently.
+				}
 				continue
 			default:
 			}
diff --git a/opentsdb/tsdb.go b/opentsdb/tsdb.go
index 58b4493350..868710d4e0 100644
--- a/opentsdb/tsdb.go
+++ b/opentsdb/tsdb.go
@@ -293,6 +293,9 @@ func (t TagSet) Clean() error {
 		if err != nil {
 			return fmt.Errorf("cleaning value %s for tag %s: %s", v, k, err)
 		}
+		if kc == "" || vc == "" {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cleaning value [%s] for tag [%s] result in an empty string", v, k)
+		}
 		if kc != k || vc != v {
 			delete(t, k)
 			t[kc] = vc