"doing what you do as well as you can (and practising in private before practising in public!)"

I know of nobody who doesn't do that.

You are very lucky then, Snail (Bryan?). Maybe that is why we have disagreed on the quality of floor singers in the past. Im my experience there are lots who don't know what the word rehersal means! It annoys me when someone shambles onto 'stage' or sits in the same place then mumbles about not knowing what to sing, gets out their loose leaf folder of words 'collected' from obscure scratchy vinyls, drops half of them, sets off in the wrong key, starts again, realises halfway through that they don't know the tune to the middle 8, starts a new song, misses 2 verses and sings the same one 4 times, etc. etc.

Surely you must know at least one? I know loads! I believe this is what Dianne is complaining about. Not amateurs that support folk week in and out without a fuss, respect the fact that people have gone out of their way to listen to them and generaly do not cause embarasment to either themselves or the audience.

I could be wrong of course as I do not really know Dianne either.

Cheers

Dave