lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm | 2 +-

diff --git a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
index 0b30d43a174562328df2a78d767c6c3d6b18f0d1..5b055bca0c9c9ef859e85fc7da4cef162668da67 100644
--- a/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
+++ b/lib/PublicInbox/NNTP.pm
@@ -894,7 +894,7 @@
 sub do_write ($$) {
 	my ($self, $data) = @_;
 	my $done = $self->write($data);
-	die if $self->{closed};
+	return if $self->{closed};
 
 	# Do not watch for readability if we have data in the queue,
 	# instead re-enable watching for readability when we can