Bob, I think most people here know all about MacColl, and why his club introduced 'rules.' It wasn't for the reasons you imply, and even if it was, an analogy with our concerns over the awards wouldn't fit.

In the past, written songs have been wrongly credited as trad and the writers have lost out on money they were due. And, conversely, trad songs have been credited as originals and artists have had money they were NOT due, and - worse still - people could no longer use that material because it now 'belonged' to someone. So the accreditation of material does matter - a lot.

But even that's not the main point.

If you read the whole thread you will see that our chief concern is that this error has thrown the validity, veracity, and maybe even the survival of the awards into question (as well as making us all look like charlies).

As people who love - and in some cases make a living from - folk music, we are unhappy about this, and if you stopped and thought about it for just one minute I think you might be tool.