Don,
What you say is simple logic. They're winding you up!

Here's a bit of background history. The earliest uses of the word 'folk song' a book of self-penned material c1860 that turns up pretty regularly on Ebay. c1880-> the early collectors started to use the term following the relationship with folk-lore. The main reason 'folk song' has gathered a much wider meaning is largely because of the ordinary punters, people who follow the music around and PAY to go to folk festivals, folk clubs and buy the merchandise. Many of the performers are folk singers singing folk songs who largely perform at folk festivals and folk clubs, whether they write their own or sing the older stuff. IT DOESN'T MATTER ANY MORE.

As Sue Allen said on the previous thread the 54 lot stopped using the word 'folk' a while ago and used something else instead, so why do we need to get our knickers in a twist over it? It's now been hi-jacked by the 'folk scene'. So what!