I reget I didn't make the thread title more specific

When I initiated the question, I was looking for a more current designation of 'What makes it a Folk Song?', applying criteria of today, rather than the erudite but rather grey, [& dated] 1954 version.

Little did I imagine the debate would metamophosise itself into a plainly obvious clash of opinions of on the one hand, performers & the other, audients.

The resulting furore is somewhat reminiscent of this debate thread.cfm?threadid=110584
from some time back