Greg,
No, I'm not just trying to troll. I genuinely don't understand, and never have.

It strikes me that "traditional singers" as a concept are regarded as different from "revival singers" because most of the people on this thread are direct products of the revival. I was born in the early 80s, and I can see evidence of both unbroken traditions that are not part of a revival (The Sheffield Carols, say...) and traditions that have equally complex motives as any revivalist singing long before the 60s.

Tell me if I'm wrong, and why. I genuinely want to learn.