Sorry folk - this is, as far as I know, the only agreed defintition arrived at by a working group of researchers (International Folk Music Council), and while we may disagree with it, I don't think we can ignore it.
While I believe this definition to be less than perfect, it has been the accepted one for over half a century and is, I believe, an excellent starting point.
Rather than go off half-cocked, with everybody starting from scratch and making it up as they go along, (including the Humpty Dumpty contingent) would it not be better to work on what we have and come to some sort of a conclusion on what has gone before.
Let's face it; those of us involved in this debate are a tiny minority within a minority subject and all we can possibly achieve is some sort of an agreement between ourselves, or at the very least, to agree to differ. This way we will continue to communicate, but only with each other.
Jim Carroll
PS Alternatively, we could take the definition from the Funk And Wagnall Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend as our starting point - that only runs to seventeen double columned pages!