I am with Peter T on this--it's sad indeed to see the venerable fixtures in what is left of the folk music community rant and rave abusively at the folks who just want to take part, rather than providing any kind of leadership--

In the "old days", a lot of the folk singing was connected with the "Movements"--Labor, Civil Rights, Anti-War--and there were song books and lyric sheets all over the place. There were never enough, of course, so often you'd see one person holding the sheet at arms length, while folks on either side joined in, with someone peering over the shoulder as well.

Singing was used as a tool for building solidarity--the point was bringing people together, not walking out if they didn't meet your personal performance standards.

Another thing is, "We shall overcome" has a broader interest than "We'll all throw mud at the cook";-)