factoring out forwardPeersList logic

may want to be able to use logic when remote peers unavailable
fix for forwardMetaData being seen uninitialized when init is called

a nice reminder about how important it is to have sane construction
forward empty list when no remotes are found

another option would be to disable forwarding meta data, but this is
more helpful to the end stream user and should be fine
upgrade a couple 'warn' debug levels to 'error'