Mine was a mere request - as an interested, non-academic and non-partisan observer (who happens to sing folk songs) - that those academics already contributing to this thread, might aid an interested but confused other such as myself,

I'm an academic - as in, I teach stuff to grown-ups for a living - but I've got zero academic qualifications in the area of folk music. I'm not sure anyone here has.

As an outsider to this debate (as indeed I suspect most folk enthusiasts might well be), it feels utterly nebulous and displaced from anything I can mentally grapple with.

As I said, I can't answer your question if I don't know what it is. Are you saying you don't understand the definition? If so, which bit? Are you saying it doesn't define what gets sung in folk clubs? (True, it doesn't.) Are you saying we need a definition for what gets sung in folk clubs? (Maybe, but that's not it.) Or... er, what?