diff --git a/src/streamer.rs b/src/streamer.rs
index 138488899..9eb2360c0 100644
--- a/src/streamer.rs
+++ b/src/streamer.rs
@@ -222,6 +222,11 @@ fn retransmit(
     Ok(())
 }
 
+//service to retransmit messages from the leader to layer 1 nodes
+//see subscriber.rs for network layer definitions
+//window receives blobs from the network
+//for any blobs that originated from the leader, we broadcast
+//to the rest of the network
 pub fn retransmitter(
     sock: UdpSocket,
     exit: Arc<AtomicBool>,
@@ -485,18 +490,18 @@ mod test {
         )));
         let n3 = Node::new([0; 8], 1, read.local_addr().unwrap());
         subs.write().unwrap().insert(&[n3]);
-        let (s_cast, r_cast) = channel();
-        let re = BlobRecycler::default();
+        let (s_retransmit, r_retransmit) = channel();
+        let blob_recycler = BlobRecycler::default();
         let saddr = send.local_addr().unwrap();
-        let t_retransmit = retransmitter(send, exit.clone(), subs, re.clone(), r_cast);
+        let t_retransmit = retransmitter(send, exit.clone(), subs, blob_recycler.clone(), r_retransmit);
         let mut bq = VecDeque::new();
-        let b = re.allocate();
+        let b = blob_recycler.allocate();
         b.write().unwrap().meta.size = 10;
         bq.push_back(b);
-        s_cast.send(bq).unwrap();
-        let (s_recv, r_recv) = channel();
-        let t_receiver = blob_receiver(exit.clone(), re.clone(), read, s_recv).unwrap();
-        let mut oq = r_recv.recv().unwrap();
+        s_retransmit.send(bq).unwrap();
+        let (s_blob_receiver, r_blob_receiver) = channel();
+        let t_receiver = blob_receiver(exit.clone(), blob_recycler.clone(), read, s_blob_receiver).unwrap();
+        let mut oq = r_blob_receiver.recv().unwrap();
         assert_eq!(oq.len(), 1);
         let o = oq.pop_front().unwrap();
         let ro = o.read().unwrap();
diff --git a/src/subscribers.rs b/src/subscribers.rs
index 0a123540b..f719d2e2d 100644
--- a/src/subscribers.rs
+++ b/src/subscribers.rs
@@ -13,11 +13,7 @@ pub struct Node {
 //sockaddr doesn't implement default
 impl Default for Node {
     fn default() -> Node {
-        Node {
-            id: [0; 8],
-            weight: 0,
-            addr: "0.0.0.0:0".parse().unwrap(),
-        }
+        Node { id: [0; 8], weight: 0, addr: "0.0.0.0:0".parse().unwrap(), }
     }
 }
 
@@ -34,9 +30,13 @@ impl Node {
     }
 }
 
+//Subscriber data structure
+//layer 0, leader
+//layer 1, as many nodes as we can fit to quickly get reliable 2/3+1 finality
+//layer 2, everyone else, if layer 1 is 2**10, layer 2 should be 2**20 number of nodes
 pub struct Subscribers {
-    pub data: Vec<Node>,
-    pub me: Node,
+    data: Vec<Node>,
+    me: Node,
     pub leader: Node,
 }
 
@@ -50,6 +50,8 @@ impl Subscribers {
         h.insert(&[me, leader]);
         h
     }
+
+    //retransmit messages from the leader to layer 1 nodes
     pub fn retransmit(&self, blob: &mut Blob, s: &UdpSocket) -> Result<()> {
         let errs: Vec<_> = self.data
             .par_iter()