I fully agree with that. I took my first faltering steps (at the age of 42!) in a dingy back room, and the support I got there kept me playing and what I now have is very precious to me. But I won't be spending much time in any folk clubs these days. You risk having a rattling good time - but you also risk having to endure, in churchy silence, some pretty dire stuff that should have been prepared much better (or ditched). I'd far sooner sit around a table with a few mates and play whatever we like and when we like within the idiom (whatever that means). I think I'm unconsciously contrasting almost guaranteed fun versus severe risk of no fun. You either make money out of it or get fun out of it. Other options are possibly slightly insane!