Please exclude me from your charge that "nobody here appears to want to believe the folk as serious contenders for having made these songs."

My naive suggestion that you develop your arguments methodically, at book's length, was in good part a selfish one. I wanted to be able to appreciate your case, which seems eminently worth contemplating, outside the distractions of the hothouse temperature of Mudcat mud fight.

My impression, from the perspective of a generally informed lay reader/non-expert, is that Steve Roud, right or wrong, has put forth a reasonable argument. Like so many reasonable arguments, reasonable people will disagree about its ultimate correctness, and the discussion will continue. Those of us who are merely interested, not dug into a particular set of ideas, will be the wiser for that continued discussion.

If your fuse were longer, you'd understand that. And I sincerely regret not getting to read your book.