Dick, the folk process is just that, a process. If Dougie Maclean changes the words to Caledonia or you change the words to The January Man, that alone doesn't turn them into folk songs. It may be the start of the folk process, and if others take up the changed versions and especially if they make further changes of their own, then they will turn into folk songs.

That takes time. You know perfectly well it is a nonsense to suggest a timescale. It could be only weeks or months, more likely it will take years, but a song doesn't automatically become a folk song only after a fixed period of time.

Let me turn the question round. If you do not admit the folk process, what do you consider distinguishes a folk song from other types of song?