Description of problem:

i get the friendliness idea of the 'oh no' error screen but
i think it misses its mark because it doenst provide
any useful detail for the person calling help line to 
read off something useful to the helper.  
(this could be a problem for someone not prepared to jump to 
a text terminal and start rooting around.)

reasons for a more informative error message
than 'Oh no! Something... .':

   a)vague error messages will drive vague bug reports 
     which dont help anyone
     (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=705078#c37)
     >This bug mixes together 5-10 unrelated issues 
     >including resolved issues,
     >gnome-settings-daemon issues, GL driver issues, and so forth.

   b)an empowered user is not only happier but also 
     more productive when debugging an error.  
     if we help the user report useful info 
     (think abrt tool vs 'Oh no' message)
     then the bug reports will be more effective.

   c)vague error messages dont really tell us anything 
     we didnt already know and so can be 
     annoying to frustrated users 
     (https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=705078#c34)


so just a small amount of detail would help the reporter file 
a more useful report.  for example if the reporter could 
read off what package the error screen displays
as the cause then the helpdesk ticket could be 
filed as $cause instead of "user reports 'Oh no Something'".

if the cause of crasher is not available then 
maybe we tell the user how to look for that info.

i think the added info would do well to be along the lines 
suggested in another report to a user 
in response to receiving the error:

    https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=741075#c11
    'Oh no! Something has gone wrong at GDM after upgrading 
       from F15 to F16 x86_64...'

    '
    Adam Williamson 2011-10-29 01:31:50 EDT

    so, this error is shown by gnome-session 
    when any critical component of the
    GNOME session respawns more than once 
    within a minute. The offending component
    is always mentioned in ~/.xsession-errors .

    So for all those affected, please try to log in, 
    *leave* your system sitting at
    the 'oh no!' screen, switch to a console 
    with ctrl-alt-f3, log in, and take a
    copy of ~/.xsession-errors , then attach it to this report, 
    so we can see what's crashing.

    You can look in ~/.xsession-errors and you 
    should see a line like 'foobar is
    respawning too fast', or something along those line. 
    'foobar' is the component
    that's crashing. If possible, please then try 
    and figure out why: abrt may well
    have a report for it, or you can try running it 
    from a VT with 'DISPLAY=:0
    command' and see what errors you get.

    '

so following that idea we would change the existing: 

   'Oh no! Something has gone wrong.
    A problem has occurred and the system cant recover.
    Please log out and try again.'

message to something like:

  'Oh no! Something has gone wrong with $package at $function.
   Please logout and try again ... .'

or even better (empowered user = happy user):

   'Oh no! Something has gone wrong with $package at $function.
    Please logout and try again.

    This error is shown by gnome-session 
    when any critical component of the
    GNOME session respawns more than once 
    within a minute. 

    The offending component
    is always mentioned in ~/.xsession-errors .

    If this error re-occurs then 
    Please *leave* your system sitting at
    the 'Oh no!' screen while you switch to a console 
    (by typing ctrl-alt-f3), log in, and take note
    of the contents of ~/.xsession-errors 
    for your bug report so we can see what's crashing.
   '

which increases the usefulness of the message alot
by giving the uninitiated user a better idea about whats up 
and (more importantly) what they can do about it.

(the information is especially helpful if the error repeats.
i saw an instance where the 'Oh no try again' screen came 
up at every boot/login attempt ;') )


Version-Release number of selected component (if applicable):

  gnome-shell-3.4

How reproducible:

  always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. get error
2. be confuse as to why or what to do about it
3. file bug titled 'Oh no!' 
4. never receice a fix because error is too vague
  
Actual results:

  get vague error that is not so helpful so the bug will 
  never be identified

Expected results:

  get informative error message that will allow a bug report to 
  drive a bug fix

Additional info:

 currently i see about 14 historic bugs filed quoting 'Oh no Something'
 and the numbers will continue to increase.

 the https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=808736
   was kind enough to include an handy photo
   https://bugzilla.redhat.com/attachment.cgi?id=575652