In a well run club, There are normally enough breaks for people to socialise, sothat when the breaks are over, respect is shown to the singers,there is nothing wrong with banter, that is part of participating ,but treating singers like wallpaper music is disrespectful,and happens rarely in folk clubs.
no I dont find it irritating because I dont do it, NEITHER DOES IT HAPPEN IN 99 PER CENT OF FOLK CLUBS.
yes I get a great kick out of learning something new particuarly if I discovered it unaided by anyone else.
The whole point of learning from source singers or anyone else, is to eventually develop your own style, based on those people you have listened to, but not a slavish imitation. if for example I copied the bowing styles of lucy farr or paddy killoran, I would hope that their influence might be evident, but that i have put something of myself in.
what used to piss me off, was to hear floor singers regurgitate three songs from a cd, that they had just bought,and sound like a poor version of the original song writer[interestingly it often exposed the weaknesses of the lyrics in question].