This is my take on it.

1 This thread originally was put up to inform us of an opportunity to learn about ballads. The heading has an ellipsis, indicating that it is not a complete sentence or thought. The OP continues that you might want to learn more about them and mentions a course, which looks very interesting. If there is a need for a thread on 'Why I like ballads', a different topic, then perhaps somebody might start one.


2 Even a cursory glance at the work on folk song that has been done over the last hundred years shows that there has been a range of ideas, some controversies and 'ballad wars' and so on.

There will therefore be honest differences of opinion, as there have been throughout one hundred years of scholarship.

3 It is, therefore, perfectly valid to hold and express an opinion different from that of another person.

4 On the other hand, it would be negative and, in my view, would add nothing to anyone's knowledge or enjoyment, to see the debate in terms of a court case, or a battle, or to claim that somebody expressing disagreement with an idea is engaging in one upmanship.

5 Requesting people to stop discussing the topic altogether, apparently on the basis that one feels disagreement with their ideas is not likely to add to anybody's understanding. On the contrary, it is likely to have the dual effect of driving people away and preventing precisely the sort of active discussion that leads to the best sort of learning.