diff --git a/docs/source/api/apollo-server.md b/docs/source/api/apollo-server.md
index a954498c2c2..3c2ddfcffe4 100644
--- a/docs/source/api/apollo-server.md
+++ b/docs/source/api/apollo-server.md
@@ -345,6 +345,6 @@ addMockFunctionsToSchema({
    'sendReport()' on other signals if you'd like. Note that 'sendReport()'
    does not run synchronously so it cannot work usefully in an 'exit' handler.
 
-*  `sendErrorTraces`: boolean
+*  `maskErrorDetails`: boolean
 
-   To remove errors from traces, set this to false. Defaults to true
+   Set to true to remove error details from the traces sent to Apollo's servers. Defaults to false.
diff --git a/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/agent.ts b/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/agent.ts
index 3c0671b5bd2..0422a5c3397 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/agent.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/agent.ts
@@ -75,14 +75,14 @@ export interface EngineReportingOptions {
   privateHeaders?: Array<String> | boolean;
   // By default, EngineReportingAgent listens for the 'SIGINT' and 'SIGTERM'
   // signals, stops, sends a final report, and re-sends the signal to
-  // itself. Set this to false to disable. You can manually invoke 'stop()' and
+  // itself. Set tnis to false to disable. You can manually invoke 'stop()' and
   // 'sendReport()' on other signals if you'd like. Note that 'sendReport()'
   // does not run synchronously so it cannot work usefully in an 'exit' handler.
   handleSignals?: boolean;
   // Sends the trace report immediately. This options is useful for stateless environments
   sendReportsImmediately?: boolean;
-  // To remove errors from traces, set this to false. Defaults to true
-  sendErrorTraces?: boolean;
+  // To remove the error message from traces, set this to true. Defaults to false
+  maskeErrorDetails?: boolean;
 
   // XXX Provide a way to set client_name, client_version, client_address,
   // service, and service_version fields. They are currently not revealed in the
diff --git a/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/extension.ts b/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/extension.ts
index 7ed4260768c..74a58efbfe2 100644
--- a/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/extension.ts
+++ b/packages/apollo-engine-reporting/src/extension.ts
@@ -44,7 +44,7 @@ export class EngineReportingExtension<TContext = any>
     addTrace: (signature: string, operationName: string, trace: Trace) => void,
   ) {
     this.options = {
-      sendErrorTraces: true,
+      maskErrorDetails: false,
       ...options,
     };
     this.addTrace = addTrace;
@@ -229,19 +229,16 @@ export class EngineReportingExtension<TContext = any>
           }
         }
 
-        // With noErrorTraces, the Engine proxy strips all error information
-        // from the traces and sends error counts inside of the aggregated stats
-        // reports. To get similar behavior inside of the apollo server metrics
-        // reporting, we always send a trace and mask out the PII
-        const errorInfo = this.options.sendErrorTraces
-          ? {
+        // Always send the trace errors, so that the UI acknowledges that there is an error.
+        const errorInfo = this.options.maskErrorDetails
+          ? { message: '<masked>' }
+          : {
               message: error.message,
               location: (error.locations || []).map(
                 ({ line, column }) => new Trace.Location({ line, column }),
               ),
               json: JSON.stringify(error),
-            }
-          : { message: 'Masked by Apollo Engine Reporting' };
+            };
 
         node!.error!.push(new Trace.Error(errorInfo));
       });