diff --git a/src/utils/error.rs b/src/utils/error.rs
index db0735c4..980373b9 100644
--- a/src/utils/error.rs
+++ b/src/utils/error.rs
@@ -19,52 +19,46 @@ pub(crate) type Result<T, E = Error> = std::result::Result<T, E>;
 #[allow(clippy::error_impl_error)]
 pub(crate) enum Error {
     #[cfg(feature = "sqlite")]
-    #[error(
-        "There was a problem with the connection to the sqlite database: \
-         {source}"
-    )]
+    #[error("error connecting to sqlite database")]
     Sqlite {
         #[from]
         source: rusqlite::Error,
     },
     #[cfg(feature = "rocksdb")]
-    #[error(
-        "There was a problem with the connection to the rocksdb database: \
-         {source}"
-    )]
+    #[error("error connecting to rocksdb database")]
     RocksDb {
         #[from]
         source: rocksdb::Error,
     },
-    #[error("Could not generate image thumbnail.")]
+    #[error("error generating image thumbnail")]
     GenerateThumbnail(#[source] image::error::ImageError),
-    #[error("Could not connect to server: {source}")]
+    #[error("error making request to server")]
     Reqwest {
         #[from]
         source: reqwest::Error,
     },
-    #[error("Could build regular expression: {source}")]
+    #[error("error building regular expression")]
     Regex {
         #[from]
         source: regex::Error,
     },
-    #[error("{0}")]
-    Federation(OwnedServerName, RumaError),
-    #[error("Could not do this io: {source}")]
+    #[error("federation request to {0} returned an error")]
+    Federation(OwnedServerName, #[source] RumaError),
+    #[error("IO error")]
     Io {
         #[from]
         source: std::io::Error,
     },
-    #[error("{0}")]
+    #[error("invalid server response: {0}")]
     BadServerResponse(&'static str),
-    #[error("{0}")]
+    #[error("config error: {0}")]
     BadConfig(&'static str),
-    #[error("{0}")]
+    #[error("invalid data in database: {0}")]
     /// Don't create this directly. Use [`Error::bad_database`] instead.
     BadDatabase(&'static str),
-    #[error("uiaa")]
+    #[error("UIAA error")]
     Uiaa(UiaaInfo),
-    #[error("{0}: {1}")]
+    #[error("invalid request ({0}): {1}")]
     BadRequest(ErrorKind, &'static str),
     #[error("alias already exists")]
     AliasConflict,
@@ -74,11 +68,11 @@ pub(crate) enum Error {
     Path(#[from] axum::extract::rejection::PathRejection),
     #[error("{0}")]
     AdminCommand(&'static str),
-    #[error("from {0}: {1}")]
+    #[error("error redacting event from {0}: {1}")]
     Redaction(OwnedServerName, ruma::canonical_json::RedactionError),
     #[error("unsupported room version {0}")]
     UnsupportedRoomVersion(ruma::RoomVersionId),
-    #[error("{0} in {1}")]
+    #[error("inconsistent room state in {1}: {0}")]
     InconsistentRoomState(&'static str, ruma::OwnedRoomId),
 }