I'd factor all of the following considerations: (a) how far the singer(s) had come, (b) whether they were any good, (c) how often they were likely to be in that neck of the woods, and (d) whether the others had had a fair crack of the whip.

It's difficult to be even-handed. There are a few clubs which are admittedly dominated by a handful of people of considerable talent (one in London that I can think of), but which don't allow visitors much of a look in. There are others which are more democratic, but where a significant number of floor singers are crap, and don't seem to have any concept of pleasing an audience.

As it happens, I've all but given up attending folk clubs because on the one hand I don't enjoy being frozen out, and on the other, I don't enjoy hearing endless bad renditions of Ralph McTell and Eric Bogle songs. So it's a choice between elitism and incompetence without much of a middle ground in between.