Jim said (inter alia) "the term 'Folk' is a reference to origins and source of the songs, so suggesting that it does not matter poses serious problems."

Not sure whether you intend "source" to be synonymous with "origins", or to refer to the "source singer" from whom a song is collected, or what.

But anyway that's not quite what the Steves and others are saying. The person from whom a song was collected certainly matters, and the origin matters if it can be positively identified, possibly telling us something about the originator and providing a reference point for comparison with what has happened to a song in subsequent transmission (orally, through print, or some of each). But origin and source are among a variety of possible criteria by which one might try to decide which songs are "folk" and which are something else.

Consider for example Freda Palmer, who learnt much of her repertoire from her aunt and a double CD of whose songs was recently published by Musical Traditions Records. First, read the description of her on that page. Then look at the track listing.