"Jim. I did say what I believed a folk song was. "
Please remind me Dave - I apologise if I have missed it
It is somewhat insulting of you to accuse me of making things up - I'm the one who is supposed to insult people
I make mistakes but I don't tell lies - I thought better of you than that

One of the problems folk music faces is that there is no longer a consensus of what the term means - there was once, even though tastes differed, as they should
The Revival I came into when I was 21 was based on the findings of the BBC mopping-up campaign, then The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and MacColl and Seeger's 'Singing Island' overwhelmingly British folk songs collected in the field from source singers
Those songs fed the revival for several decades and were reinforced by other collections, Purslow, Alasdair Clayre, Karl Dallas - and a constant stream of new songs, Enoch Kent, MacColl Rossleson, Pete Smith.... (all paying homage to our song tradition without necessarily being part of it)
That was healthily experimental without forgetting how unique and important our songs were.
That seems to have totally dissipated (with the resultant decline in clubs and enthusiasts) - now we have to send scouts out in advance to see if folk clubs do 'folk' anymore - and fewer and fewer do and any attempts to discuss this are met with hurled abuse - "purist", finger-in-ear", "folk police (or nastier, Folk fascist)"
On this forum, subjects like definition, standards, crib phones and sheets, are met with howls of "elitists"
There is more access to folk songs than there has ever been in my lifetime, now nobody even wants to discuss the meaning of the term.

I raised the points I have because I was delighted and surprised that the OP specifically asked for traditional songs - I'm glad I did - it certainly has clarified who is the abuser and who the abused in these arguments
I can't ever remember telling anybody to shut up and go away, and I repeat - I have insulted no-one

"Now there's food for thought. Do we really need any further discussion?"
Don't understand your point Steve - you are one of those that subscribes to the practice
Jim Carroll