I have a better memory for tunes than words, and like Joe, like to sing a lot of different songs, so this does mean that I will use words on occasion, but again, use them as a glance-down prompt rather than wholesale reading off the page. In some sessions I go to this seems to be the norm, in others the exception. On the rare event that I get a floor spot, I will try to sing songs that are firmly in the memory bank. Not every song I memorise remains in there sadly.
Paper-shufflers are a pain, and even more so those who leave it until it's their turn to plough through a massive folder, mumbling "oh, I don't know what to sing". They should be made to miss a turn!
Mobile phone fiddlers, tweeting, texting and Facebookig while others sing, are also extremely rude: phones should be off and firmly away during sessions, unless, as one angry session host remarked, " you are on the waiting list for a heart transplant"!
Joe, I would still go to your gathering: you've made your point and it would be a shame to miss something you otherwise enjoy. And take a small selection of lyric sheets to glance at.