diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index 716b6ee..0f15e2f 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -1783,6 +1783,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "opendal",
  "opus2",
  "patricia_tree 0.10.1",
+ "rayon",
  "rhai",
  "rustls 0.23.40",
  "secrecy 0.10.3",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 830806b..53d6b0d 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -56,6 +56,7 @@ opendal = { git = "https://github.com/apache/opendal", rev = "ecf840b04afd2be109
 ] }
 opus2 = "0.4.0"
 patricia_tree = "0.10.1"
+rayon = "1.12"
 rhai = { version = "1.23.6", features = ["sync"] }
 rustls = "0.23"
 secrecy = { version = "0.10.3", features = ["serde"] }
diff --git a/src/main.rs b/src/main.rs
index c83741b..8500bbd 100644
--- a/src/main.rs
+++ b/src/main.rs
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ use fomo_reducer::{
     RecordingManager, RenderManager, State, Storage, UserManager, VCsSender, all_commands, command,
     heat_seek, initialize_vcs, update_vcs,
 };
+use rayon::iter::{IntoParallelRefIterator, ParallelIterator};
 use secrecy::{ExposeSecret, SecretString};
 use snafu::{OptionExt, ResultExt, Snafu};
 use songbird::{Config, Songbird, driver::DecodeConfig, shards::TwilightMap};
@@ -342,14 +343,36 @@ async fn main() -> Result<(), MainError> {
     let (mut watchdog_tx, mut watchdog_rx) =
         futures::channel::mpsc::channel(watchdog_channel_size.get());
 
-    std::thread::spawn(move || {
-        loop {
-            if watchdog_tx.try_send(()).is_err() {
-                tracing::error!("tokio runtime deadlocked");
-                std::process::exit(1);
-            }
+    std::thread::spawn({
+        let discord_voice_channel_corresponding_text_channel =
+            discord_voice_channel_corresponding_text_channel.clone();
+        let discord_client = discord_client.clone();
+        let vcs_watcher = vcs_sender.subscribe();
 
-            std::thread::sleep(watchdog_frequency);
+        move || {
+            loop {
+                if watchdog_tx.try_send(()).is_err() {
+                    tracing::error!("tokio runtime deadlocked");
+
+                    vcs_watcher.borrow().par_iter().for_each(|(&guild_id, vcs_in_guild)| {
+                        if let Some(&voice_channel_id) = vcs_in_guild.get_left_for(&discord_user_id) {
+                                let text_channel_id =
+                                    discord_voice_channel_corresponding_text_channel
+                                        .get(&guild_id)
+                                        .and_then(|guild_mappings| {
+                                            guild_mappings.get_right_for(&voice_channel_id).copied()
+                                        })
+                                        .unwrap_or(voice_channel_id);
+
+                                let _ = futures::executor::block_on(discord_client.create_message(text_channel_id).content("so sorry I died, I'm in purgatory now, I don't like it here.\nbut I will be back in 5-20 minutes (even if it says I'm still there, I'm not currently recording and will be disconnected soon before later reconnecting and announcing recording again)").into_future());
+                            }
+                        });
+
+                    std::process::exit(1);
+                }
+
+                std::thread::sleep(watchdog_frequency);
+            }
         }
     });