"Jim. I don't need to prove anything in Wiki. It has already been done by a team of editors and experts in the field. "
Wiki isn/ made up of "editors in the field" Dave - it consists of information and opinions sent in by whoever feels like doing so - it even invites people to edit its entries
You are getting to sound like the people I have spent my life arguing so pointlessly with
I really don't know why I'm bothering discussing a music I haven't the slightest interest in which I have only ever considered predator section of the pop scene looking for ways to use folk music
Folk rock, as far as I'm concerned was made up of wannabe pop stars who could't make it on the mainstream scene and so chose the folk clubs as a platform
Fine by be as long as they did no damage to the music that mattered - they were never more than a passing fad as all pop based music is - to be re-invented whenever the industrty felt it profitable to do so
It could never be considered grass-roots in the scene I was involved in because the people I knew couldn't have afforded the necessary equipment if they'd wanted it.
Folk song proper is basically a solo act by people who used it for self expression; the sharing of ideas, emotions and aspirations via the songs they sang - that is still working for me after over a half century's involvement - you couldn't ask more of a lifelong interest
The lady from West Wales has just put up a link of youngsters getting the same enjoyment I have out of traditional song - I envy them their youth and I hope they get a fraction of the enjoyment out of it that I have
One of the ways they will do that is by realising its importance and by sharing that importance with others - a far cry than faddiish -based pop music that needs to die regularly to keep the industry in profit
Our folk scene came into being to escape the tedious pap about 'pink and blue toothbrushes' and wanting to be "Bobby's Girl"   
It worries me to see many of today's performers who count success in how many CDs they make or how many paid gigs they can get - as for the media driven competitions.... don't get me started!

I now live in a place which had a rich tradition of traditional song and now has a throbbing six-night-a-week traditional music scene - largely played by youngsters a third of my age - some of them already as good as the best I have ever heard
Here they share the music rather than selling it -
That's beginning to happen with the singing, but it'll take time, thought and effort to build a lasting foundation for it to build on
I would love to see that happen in the UK, but it ain't going to happen on a scene that can't even put a name and identity to the music they claim to perform and hurl epithets like "purist" and "folk-fascist" at anybody who can.
Folk song is extremely enjoyable in all its aspects, but like Shankley once said about football - it's much more important than that   
If it's going to survive it has to be shared - that sharing can be ecery bit as enjoyable as listening to a good song, well performed
Come in - the water's lovely - it always has been
Jim