Robbie Wilson's post is where this should have been from the very beginning - a breath of fresh air, as far as I am concerned.
I like he, walked away from the scene when it failed to live up to what it promised - that for me, is the only relevance to a definition as far as I am concerned, though people have brought it up as an argument as if it was a hard and fast rule book - in fifty odd years, I have never seen '54 used as such - in policy clubs, that was a guide to the type of sound you would hear if you walked through the door.
Taking the arguments here at face value, that is no longer the case - not in England anyway.
I have no interest in hip-hop or heavy metal or 'the sound of the sixties' (anymore) - I don't suppose any of the devotees to that side of music have any interest in Harry Cox or Joe Heaney, or Sam Larner.
That is why it is a con to claim one is the other - it's getting people though the door on false pretences

"i also think, the hatred of people like the spinners"
It's never been a question of "hatred" Al - certainly not with me
I was introduced to folk music by The Spinners, who sang a basic and simplified version of folk song - I was grateful for that introduction, but after a couple of years I grew a little bored with the sameness, and was moving on when I was introduced to a wider and more absorbing aspect of folk song - that's why I stayed around until now

I find folk song one of the most pleasureable and thought-provoking forms of song there is as an entertainment - for me, there is a wider side to it, but that's me, I don't expect others to share myinterest in that side of it.
At the same time, I do expect that when I go to a folk club I am given something that lives up to its title to some degree - the impression I get here is that many clubs have decided that folk songs isn't for them but the club scene is a handy venue for their type of music and usurped both the clubs and the title
That does nobody any favours.

I believe there is still a great deal of mileage in folk song at its best as an entertainment
Ireland has always had a reasonable following for its national song, particularly the emigration and the political songs
A few years ago, a couple of singers/researchers from Wexford, with the co-operation of The National Library of Ireland, embarked on a project entitled 'Man, Woman and Child' and put on a series of free daytime concerts of unaccompanied Child Ballads in various parts of the country
All of a sudden, these ballads were springing up like mushrooms, in clubs and in singing sessions.
They are now moving towards what I believe Britain has moved away from - a revival of traditional folksong as an entertainment
It's never too late - I hope
Jim Carroll