...and in terms of defending positions, I would hasten to add that my views are entirely personal and that I have no 'standing' in the world of traditional music and dance. I have sometimes been paid to perform, and have run club nights, called for ceilidhs, participated in sessions and singarounds, stewarded at festivals and run the odd workshop*. But I would certainly never claim to be a guru - just someone who cares deeply about the music and who sometimes cringes at the way it's presented to an indifferent, ignorant and sometimes even hostile public.

*and workshops are festivals are too thin on the ground. That is where constructive criticism can and does help, and where indifferent performers can really improve. Sadly, however, there are some performers so convinced of their own excellence that they'd never dream of attending one!
Clubs, too, would benefit from making the occasional singers' night into a workshop or 'try-out', with the proviso that anyone who performs will have to endure a post-mortem which will be rather more than "Very nice, next please".
The many threads on this forum about breathing technique, improving projection, memorising and making a better performance are also priceless. Perhaps Alice's excellent "thread about threads on the singing voice" should be made a permathread so that the wisdom can be passed on.