Thanks Steve - as you say, the thread was originally about collecting, in the English speaking world. I've never collected a song in my life, but I've sung a lot of traditional songs, and songs I thought were traditional but turned out to be recent compositions. I'm always on the lookout for new material.

If there are no more songs to be collected, then presumably a list of traditional songs could be compiled, and so put an end to a lot of the arguments. (I hesitate in calling it a "debate", because a debate where one side's stance is that the other shouldn't even be in the dabating chamber is bound to be a bit sterile).