jim, there is no vendetta, i have respect for your collecting activities, i am trying to point out the foolishness of insulting other members and how it undermines the occasions when you have something of value to say.
in my opinion, folk song can be defined when new songs get taken up by the public who are outside of the uk folk revival,and assumed to be trad, examples in ireland are dirty old town, caledonia, song for ireland, fiddlers green, these songs have been taken up by members of the public who are not aware of folk clubs , or the 1954 definition, this does not mean that these songs are not also sung in folk clubs, but in my opinion it is when they capture the minds of the "folk", who are not folk song afficianados