diff --git a/cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go b/cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go
index f5acc6a..0e74502 100644
--- a/cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go
+++ b/cmd/mesh-controller/plan.go
@@ -325,7 +325,12 @@ func theRestOfTheMesh(ctx context.Context, inv *inventory.Inventory,
 		}
 		got, err := catalogue.Resolve(shelf, o.assigned, o.node, theirs)
 		if err != nil {
-			fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s is left out of the rest of the mesh: it does not resolve: %v\n", o.node.Name, err)
+			// Said only for the whole-mesh view. With one machine excluded, the others are
+			// resolved without its offers, and one that consumes them cannot resolve here by
+			// design — that is not the machine being dropped, it is the view being partial.
+			if exclude == "" {
+				fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "%s is left out of the rest of the mesh: it does not resolve: %v\n", o.node.Name, err)
+			}
 			continue
 		}
 		held = append(held, got.Claims...)