I gain what I had before! Firebug is unique. The best. If it goes around copying other tools we're in real trouble!
If i wanted to switch to another dev tool, I'd engage with the rewriting-the-wheel project that is the Firefox DevTools. Planet Mozilla contains a new article every month mentioning how Mozilla has employed yet another handful of dev tools people who seemingly do not work on Firebug! Hell, if Mozilla ever gave Firebug even a one month's worth of new appointees, it'd be incredible what could be achieved! Regardless, I'm sticking with Firebug when it performs (see the 5 second delay post).
I think I explained the benefit pretty well though: A new line is lot more obvious to me than a smail incremented integer character all the way across the other side of the screen on a 24 inch setup! There may be a few options to improve the situation:
- Move the counter to a left 'column' of the console tab.
- Pulse the background of the repeated error to make it more obvious that the error has re-occured
Frankly though, I'd really appreciate at least an about:config toggle option to disable the 'feature'. That way you don't have to put any more work into creating a maintaining an toggle option in the Firebug UI at least.