diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Content/Admin.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Content/Admin.pm
index 29ea7b1d7..b5af10780 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Content/Admin.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Content/Admin.pm
@@ -85,7 +85,7 @@ sub handler {
 
     if ( $session->form->get("op") eq "assetHelper" ) {
         # Load and run the requested asset helper www_ method
-        my $assetId = $session->form->get('assetId');
+        my $assetId = $session->form->get('assetId') or $session->log->fatal("no assetId passed to op=assetHelper");
         my $asset   = WebGUI::Asset->newById( $session, $assetId );
 
         my $helperId = $session->form->get('helperId');
diff --git a/lib/WebGUI/Pluggable.pm b/lib/WebGUI/Pluggable.pm
index b28132124..fb8848996 100644
--- a/lib/WebGUI/Pluggable.pm
+++ b/lib/WebGUI/Pluggable.pm
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ package WebGUI::Pluggable;
 use strict;
 use Module::Find;
 use Carp qw(croak);
+use Scalar::Util 'blessed';
 
 # Carps should always bypass this package in error reporting
 $Carp::Internal{ __PACKAGE__ }++;
@@ -258,7 +259,7 @@ sub load {
         else {
             $moduleError{$module} = "Could not load $module because $@";
         }
-        croak $moduleError{$module};
+        die $@;  # rethrow the error so that we preserve the full stack trace of where the error came from
     }
 }