"The claim is between 94 and 100 per cent"
Where is that claim?

"We don't know how many were disseminated - we have to either base our assumptions on those collected fro a tradition in a poor state of health or, more logically, go to English speaking traditions that were healthier - the Scots, the Irish and most of all the non-literate Travellers"

Steve Roud's book deals with what went on among ordinary people in England. Evidence from other countries could indicate how things may have been in England but it's not certain. We can't know what songs were made by ordinary people except where either someone documented them at the time or they survived in the tradition long enough to be collected.

"Liking " has nothing to do with this, listening has a great deal.

Liking has everything to do with which songs survived (wherever they started) and which ones died. Some singers may have learnt and sung songs that they personally didn't much like for the sake of pleasing audiences, but if neither singers nor audiences like a song it won't survive very long.

"This is the level we should be discussing this - not slinging personal insults."

We've had plenty of strong criticisms of other people's opinions on this thread but I haven't seen many personal insults, and of course we should be avoiding those. Let's continue to respect each other as individuals and even opinions that we disagree with.