"There's an underlying assumption, in all rants like this, that it's the primary 'duty' of all folk music enthusiasts to popularise the medium. Usually the ranter doesn't appear to like folk music very much and wishes that it were more like contemporary pop music. He/she then assumes that if folk music were more like contemporary pop music it would be more popular. Hence, if folkies are to fulfil their duty they must make folk music more like contemporary pop music."

I think this is probably a pretty accurate assessment.

However the medium doesn't require popularisation or "promotion", any more than say the work of the Romantic Poets does. I do think there could be more done to simply educate and inform people that this stuff is there though. Then what people choose to do or not to do with that information, is their concern.

I think a lot of these arguments come down to modern shifts in attitude about music as a commercial product one purchases, rather than as a participatory activity one engages in.
People might stop purchasing folk music, but that won't "kill" it. It's not a musical genre like Acid House or Prog. Rock, bar in the way it's been *treated* during the revival.

The archives are all there, and anyone can make use of them anytime they want to. The key thing is whether people realise that the material is there, and that they can access it and make use of it if they want to.