How can I restore Thunderbird behavior so I can delete emails by pressing delete key multiple times (without using mouse to change focus back to message list)?

Question

Thunderbird 24.3.0 (latest under OpenBSD)
I (like most people) get spam in my inbox. When there are multiple spam messages in a row in my inbox I used to click on the first message and then press the delete key repeatedly for each sequential spam message.
After upgrading, this doesn't work. Instead, when I click a message it opens in the message preview pane and moves the focus to the message. Thus I need to click twice to even be able to press the delete key to delete one message. When I press the delete key, the message is deleted and the highlighted message becomes the next one in the list. This opens the message in the preview pane and again shifts the focus to the message. Thus I can't press the delete key again but must move the mouse to click on the message before I can delete it.
As a result, what used to be a very fast process of weeding through spam has become a real annoyance.
I realize I can hide the message preview pane to prevent the focus from moving, but this means I must delete solely based on the email subject/sender -- or open each message (which is even slower).
I also realize that I can press tab multiple times (sometime 4, sometimes many more) to shift the focus back but that's not much faster than using the mouse.
How can I prevent Thunderbird from shifting the focus away from the email list panel unless I actually click somewhere else?

Answer 1

Well said! And you said it about six weeks ago. And 4 other people said "Me Too." - I guess we're screwed.
I guess it's time to switch to GMail.
Such a trivial thing, but it irritates me every single time.
MOZILLA - YOU'RE GOING DOWNHILL...