someone[s] above thought that others thought them arrogant because they were able to sing from memory. I don't recall that being said. however, it might have been suggested that the arrogance consisted in demanding that everyone else be able to, or do a lot of practising to attain ,to do the same. I certainly would like to always do so myself, but it is not the be all and end all of a convincing song delivery.
I also am not impressed by participants spending a lot of time looking through their binders or whatever while others are singing, and I agree that they would be better participants by some preparation beforehand. however, people are rarely just as we want, and a heavy handed approach seems counterproductive to me. you could have a club that only accepts a certain standard, but I suppose the higher you set it, the fewer there might be......and eventually some of the complainers might fall foul of it themselves !