272835 - Unable to enter two different email accounts on Thunderbird using the same ISP account name.

Status: VERIFIED DUPLICATE of bug 44863

(Thunderbird :: Account Manager, defect)

Description

[Jeff Wilson]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)
Build Identifier: version 0.9 (20041103)

On MS Outlook we had several email addressess that all referenced the same ISP 
mailbox.   (i.e., [e-mail]  [e-mail]  [e-mail])  
We are a small non-profit and did this to save the cost of purchasing seperate 
mailboxes from our ISP.  Obviously each Outlook account would have the same 
ISP login information.  The end result is that all incoming mail was dumped in 
to the same inbox but we were able to select the appropriate address for 
outgoing mail for "branding" our communications.  Thunderbird will not allow 
similar configuration.

Reproducible: Always
Steps to Reproduce:
1. Add email account with first name using ISP account and password
2. Set up secong email account with same ISP account and password.
3. Error will appear before you can complete second set-up

Actual Results:  
The error message reads: "A mail or newsgroup account with the same user name 
and server name already exists.  Click Back and enter a differenct server 
name, or click Cancel."

Expected Results:  
The software should have allowed the second account to use the same user name 
and server name.

Comment 1

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

See Thunderbird FAQ.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/index.phtml?title=Thunderbird_:_FAQs_:_Multiple_Identities

Comment 2

[WADA:World Anti-bad-Duping Agency]

DUP of Bug 44863
> Bug 44863 UI for multiple identities per account

*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 44863 ***

Comment 3

[Shaddy Baddah]

As I understand, it has been decided that this bug is the duplicate of another
resolved bug. That bug was resolved through the implementation of an enhancement
that allows multiple identities to exist on a single email account.

Whilst I agree that this addresses the user requirements the reporter had (which
multiple identities could address), I dispute that it solves all the problems
associated with the Actual Result section:

The error message reads: "A mail or newsgroup account with the same user name 
and server name already exists.  Click Back and enter a differenct server 
name, or click Cancel."

As I understand, Account Wizard and Manager attempt to prevent the creation of
duplicate accounts by design (indeed, I have viewed the source (looking for a
workaround) in AccountWizard.js and AccountManager.js at the repository path
mozilla/mailnews/base/prefs/resources/content). An account is considered to be a
duplicate of a pre-existing account if it has the same server type and name, and
user name settings.

When creating a new account in Account Wizard, the detection of this condition
pop's-up an alert that informs:
A mail or newsgroup account with the same user name and server name already
exists. Click Back and enter a different server name, or click Cancel.

When modifying an existing account in Account Maanger, the detection of this
condition pop's up an alert that informs:
An account with that user name and server name already exists. Please enter a
different user name and/or server name.

Presumably, the denial of duplicate account creation feature (let's call it that
for the moment) is a safeguard against simulatenous download and deletion of
messages over POP3. I cannot think of another reason, although suspect that
there might be one. A rationale for the feature would be very helpful.

However, the feature also denies creation of accounts that aren't exactly
duplicates, and that I believe have valid justification for existing.

My home ISP account provides me an SMTP service, that is only accessible from
the ISP network(a common practise to limit spamming). Externally, I cannot send
mail via the ISP SMTP server.

Similarly, my workplace has a SMTP server that is also only accessible from my
workplace network.

So, for convinience, I would seek to have two accounts, that are configured
something like this:

My ISP
Server Type: IMAP
Server Host: imap.MyISP.com
User Name: me
Smtp Host: smtp.MyISP.com

My ISP (from workplace)
Server Type: IMAP
Server Host: imap.MyISP.com
User Name: me
Smtp Host: smtp.MyWorkplace.com

I could then reasonable use the compose mail drop down to select which account
to send with, switching between the two accounts when at home or at work.

In fact, I can achieve this anyway, because the duplicate detection code is not
case sensitive, and I can change the case on the Server Host. And in fact, in a
broader sense, I could use an alias to the server host to avoid the duplication.
There would be little that the Thunderbird code could do to detect that the
alias points to the same server host.

So, whilst it is a nicety for the detection code to be there, I question the
rationale behind denying the creation or update of a duplicate account. Surely,
since it can be by-passed, and there is no sure fire way of detecting all
duplicate cases, it could play nice and just issue a warning instead?

Comment 4

[Shaddy Baddah]

(In reply to comment #3)

After re-reviewing the Manage Identities feature that is claimed to resolve this
bug, I must apologise. It is an adequate solution for the duplicate account
scenario I describe.

What I am able to do instead of creating a duplicate account is to have an
account for my workplace and my ISP, and then create a secondary identity on my
workplace acocunt, for my ISP identity. In this way, I can use the workplace
email delivery to send my private mail. It is also a neater solution to the one
I put forward.

However, I still stand-by my view that denial of the creation of such duplicate
accounts is a step too far, because the detection of the duplicates is
by-passible. A warning should be sufficient. I can come up with a patch if it
helps (I will try it anyway at some future stage).