hmmm...

a) yes I do think it is partly because folk is used as a label for a very broad range of stuff compared with the narrower focus of other genres.

b) for lots of people but probably not everybody, the 'folk' genre seems to get mixed up with lots of issues to do with social history and current social/political outlook, which maybe people into other genres don't get so worked up about in connection with the music itself.

c) since lots of people seem to want 'folk' to somehow mean 'of the people' they maybe have a stronger sense of ownership and therefore get more territorial about their point of view.

and/or

d) Lots of people like to argue and pontificate. For fun. Not just those that like folk music, by any definition you like. Maybe the UK Mudcatters heated/nasty threads situation is just one of those things that arose by a series of little coincidences, but has gained momentum and feeds off itself. And as such isn't really anything to do with the fact that most of the debates are about folk. If that group of people all happened to join a forum about fly fishing, maybe they/we'd all argue and pontificate about that instead…


I dunno... I'm just pontificating really :) Fancy an argument anybody? My session etiquette vs. yours, at dawn...