It's back to the old argument - should we have a base-line below which what we do (publicly) is unacceptable (in general terms - we can all all have an 'off' night)?
Surely our music is worth a loud YES

I agree in principle - I know I work quite hard to make sure my performances are up to what I think is an acceptable standard, and most of the performers I like listening to have clearly done the same. I'm just not sure whether I agree in practice, because I'm not sure what the practical implications are. As I commented higher up, in practice the Competence Police are almost as rarely seen as the Folk Police. Do you think that club MCs and singaround organisers should start taking substandard performers on one side and asking them to account for themselves? I think this would change the atmosphere, and not in a good way - apart from anything else it would seriously deter beginners, even if it wasn't aimed at them.

And Rosie, I second Jim - enough with the little me don't know much about nuffink already! I like the idea that people are - more or less unconsciously - blaming the death of the tradition on the state of the clubs; that would certainly explain why some people (not thinking of you, Jim) seem to feel so strongly about how very awful the clubs are. Course, the trouble with more or less unconscious motivations is that they're more or less unconscious - people aren't likely to own up to them, or not without an expensive course of therapy. (Say what you like about singarounds, they're cheap.)