When I entered the passwords on the 3 accounts they did not work.

Thunderbird will prompt you for a password when one is needed. Are you talking about that password prompt? If your passwords did work before deleting them, and the ones you now entered at the password prompt don't work anymore, I suppose you entered the wrong passwords.

The other 2 are POP which were created some time ago (before I knew the difference between the difference and so now I am paying for my ignorance).

Most email providers offer webmail, regardless of what protocol was used with Thunderbird. Talk to your email provider.

I followed the instructions for changing from POP to IMAP

What instructions?

created the IMAP, deleted the POP, can't find the IMAP

I don't understand what you were doing. In any case, if the password didn't work for the POP account because it was the wrong password, it won't work for IMAP either.

I know I made some mistakes on the password side and you can fix that. I followed the instructions that are provided on the support forum for changing from POP to IMAP. It tells you to create an IMAP account and then drop the POP account. The only thing I can figure out is that they want me to use a completely different email address for the IMAP. That does not solve the problem and certainly is not what I call "changing". It would be a pretty big job to notify every person on my blogs and have them pay attention to a totally different email.

I have been in touch with my email provider, Hostmonster (not as big as GoDaddy but definitely toward the top) and they do NOT offer webmail for POP. Believe me, I have talked to them enough during this last week that I am sure I am like that proverbial "bad penny that keeps showing up".

All I want to do now is change those two accounts from POP to IMAP. Is that possible without just dropping them?

I followed the instructions that are provided on the support forum for changing from POP to IMAP.

Clear as mud. What's so hard with posting a link?

I am so sorry that I did not provide the information you needed. I think this is the correct way to list the link Switch from POP to IMAP account

I followed these instructions exactly. Was I supposed to use a different email address for the IMAP account? If so, that is not possible because I could never notify my list about a new address.

POP and IMAP are communication systems for connecting an email client and an email server. You can use whichever of these protocols is or are available, and this is dependent (mainly) on which of them the email operator chooses to use.

In general, an email provider will offer both POP and IMAP (and in most cases also webmail via HTTP) and it's your choice as to which you use. It is possible to set up an account twice in Thunderbird, one using POP and the other IMAP (though there is not much sense in doing this.)

So there should be no need at all for you to set up a new account using a new email address.

My email provider only offers webmail for IMAP. Through my ignorance several years ago, I set up two emails as POP and these are tied to my blogs and their lists. They use their domains and I don't want to change.

All of this started when I changed my passwords on my server. I then came to change them on Thunderbird, decided to create a master password, didn't like it, deleted it and it took out my passwords at the same time. When I tried to re-enter the passwords, it won't take the old ones or the new ones that I created on my server. So I decided to change to IMAP so I could at least get my mail on my server. AND then figure it out from there.

The only other thing I can think of is to drop Thunderbird and to go with something else that will let me start over if that is possible. I am at my wits end.

My email provider only offers webmail for IMAP.

I never heard about that, and it sounds like a pretty silly thing. I can hardly believe this is the case. Furthermore, if you cannot login to your account via webmail, how did you change your account password in the first place?

I then came to change them on Thunderbird, decided to create a master password, didn't like it, deleted it and it took out my passwords at the same time.

This doesn't make sense. You cannot change your account password with Thunderbird. Thunderbird is an email client, and it doesn't need a password. The password is for your email provider's server. All you can do is to tell Thunderbird to remember your account password. Why you were messing with the master password at the same time is a miracle to me.

The only thing I can figure out is that they want me to use a completely different email address for the IMAP. That does not solve the problem and certainly is not what I call "changing".

I don't know where in the article you're ask to do that.