An embodiment of an electronic apparatus comprises one or more substrates, and logic coupled to the one or more substrates, the logic to detect unreliable messages between check nodes and variable nodes in association with an error correction operation, determine respective degrees of unreliability for the unreliable messages, and reduce an influence of the unreliable messages on the error correction operation, as compared to an influence of reliable messages between the check nodes and the variables nodes, based on the determined respective degrees of unreliability. Other embodiments are disclosed and claimed.