Headlines are always approximations for the topic under disacussion. Art is of course right, and FOLKSONG COLLECTING - GOOD OR BAD? answers itself ("Good").

The real question is "What good are collections of folk song?", or "How can we best use folk song collections?"

That probably wouldn't have pulled in the posts - but in fact, most of the time, that is what we have been discussing.

And I don't think there has been much disagreement. It seems to be generally agreed that:

We should use collected versions as sources, to be treated with respect, but not treated as holy writ.

We should recognise that they are only a sample of what has been sung.

And we should recognise that the folk process does not cease to operate when a song has been collected, and that we are part of it, for better or worse...