I'm always a bit reluctant to get drawn into this kind of debate, but it does occur to me to wonder if there are ways in which the standards of performance can be raised, bearing in mind the legendary politeness of folk audiences and the absence of anyone who feels confident enough to have a quiet word in someone's ear and say, "look, you really need to spend more time learning your words/ getting your instrument in tune/ working out what key you need to sing in" or whatever. In the past I have known one or two people who have become unofficial mentors and who have had the rare combination of authority, wisdom and charm to say the right words at the right time, but it doesn't happen often.
In the last year I have been involved in running two workshops for Folk South West (both as part of a much larger event) which were more or less about the topic of presenting yourself well as a singer (I'm not enough of an instrumentalist to venture down that path). On both occasions I was a bit surprised at the level of questions that were asked e.g. "How can I work out what note I should start a song", "how often should I sing a song before I do it in public".... It is easy to be scathing about these things if you already know how to do it, but maybe there is scope for some fairly basic "performing skills" workshops as well as all the more advanced stuff. Incidentally, if anyone wants the notes from FSW on "How to do the perfect floorspot" send me a PM!
Right, I'm going to hide under the table now before people start throwing things at me!
Saro