I worked on trying to compile the Folk Directory at C# House at that very time and what a thankless task it was. I knew very well of very many more clubs than were actually listed because I'd either been there or booked in acts, but getting their 'organisers' to reply to requests to update their listings was another matter. Still happens today, just look, for example, at an online resource such as Folk London and you get listings of the 'establishment' happenings but little of the sessions or the heaving new venues run by young people without the by-your-leave of the old farts whom they fear, in many cases rightly, would only start telling them what to do. Yes, some open mics are truly dreadful, but no more so than the introspective doldrums into which many a 'club' fell in the late 70s when invaded by callow singer-songwriters who really ought to have been locked in their bedrooms. People will do what they do but with the high standard prevailing in sessions and workshops, I'd endorse Ray's view that the music is living and thriving, despite or even because of the current fashion among a few for emulating or even joining boy bands.