You people are incredible.... Lecturing me about participation rules, when you treat your users with this level of contempt.
Wayne asks if the instruction at his link are unclear... which completely misses the point. I just wanted to view the logs.
So i googled how to view Thunderbird logs, and i DID NOT END UP AT HIS LINK, because the requirement to go through a whole procedure means the internet is now littered with pages purporting to describe how to enable Thunderbird logging. So I ended up somewhere else, followed the instructions, and ended up with an empty pop3 log. So that is why I am here, logging a bug. Because that is an unacceptable situation, for something as simple and commonplace as a user wanting to view server connection logs in an email client. Completely unacceptable.
So when i DO go and read the instructions at https://wiki.mozilla.org/MailNews:Logging I discover this:
"Note - ldap, nntp, pop3 and smtp for current versions of Thunderbird are configured in settings and log to the Error console, not to a log file."
So that explains why the pop3 log i got was empty. The instructions i was reading, which said i needed to set vars and re-launch, to get a pop3 log, were wrong. Your link says pop3 goes to error console, which fits my vague memory of the last time i had issues in much older version of client. I remember there was window in the GUI I could bring it up to view connection logs.
But now, your link says the Error Console is where the pop3 logs go, but where the HELL is it?
Is it in the View menu, where i might look for it because i want to view logs? No.
Is it in the File menu, because it's effectively a viewer for a logfile? No
Is it in Help, because i need Help to debug issue? No.
Is it in Tools? Because the viewer might be considered a tool? Well,yes, but, it does not appear to be, because now I find it, i see it is buried under developer tools. What imbecile has decided to put it there? I want to use it, am I a Thunderbird developer? Do you think your users never want to look at a logfile? Do you think your users are so stupid they couldn't handle the contents of a log file or "Error console"? This is another example of treating your users with contempt.
How was I supposed to find the Error console there? If I go to thunderbird help and do a search for logfile, i get 5 irrelevant results. "Log" gives me 916 results, and scanning through the first lot, nothing looks useful.
Instead of treating your users with contempt, and then patronising me when i come here already annoyed and aggravated by the shortcomings in your product... Instead of telling me to follow your participation rules or go away... Instead of referring me to a wiki page that doesn't even show up in google when users search for it... Instead of closing this bug as invalid, and perpetuating the problems...
Why don't you show some respect for your users and FIX the issue?
Why don't you just take the Error Console out of Developer Tools and put it where people can see it? And maybe add something about it into the online help, preferably something that will allow people to find it if they search for log or logfile. Because that's what the rest of the world expects it to be referred to, not an "Error Console". That is an absurd name, because i don't just want to see errors in it, I may want to see the things that succeed as well. Why don't you rename it to "Log Viewer" or "Log console" or "Console Log" or something more appropriate?
Why don't you listen to people who actually try to use your product, and use their experience to make Thunderbird better?
