Definition:
In the study of folklore, the folk process is the way folk material, especially stories, music, and other art, is transformed and re-adapted in the process of its transmission from person to person and from generation to generation.
To be brutal, when it comes to the transcription of the spoken word:
mondegreen:    a misunderstood or misinterpreted word or phrase resulting from a mishearing of the lyrics of a song.

Origin
1950s: from Lady Mondegreen, a misinterpretation of the phrase laid him on the green, from the traditional ballad ‘The Bonny Earl of Murray’.

Example:
Three score and ten
They longed to fight the bitter bight
They long did fight the bitter night

Bonnie ship the diamond
The Diamond is a ship, my lads;
For the Davis Strait we're bound.
The quay it is all garnishèd
With forty lashes round.
With bonnie lasses 'round.

Is it simply the outcome of Chinese Whispers or something more profound? When every phone can capture sound and vision getting it wrong is simply sloppy workmanship, although the diction of some artists can present a challenge.

Did the rot set in when collectors first ventured into the wilderness with their waxed cylinders, gained impetus with the spread of radio, then TV and finally killed the process when perfect reproduction was available to all.

There is another aspect: Money!
Since music and lyrics could be copyrighted there was a chance to make money. Jazz,blues, folk, pop - all could gain airtime and generate a few bob

For me there is another problem.
What for me are striking tunes and lyrics have not been added to or altered and do not always make sense.
"Carrickfergus" Why is Killkenny mentioned other than the fact the
Lower Carboniferous, Butlersgrove Formation was black and extensively worked
One starry night(Liam Weldon collected this love song from the Traveller/Tinker community in the early '60s.) This song borrows from Carrickfergus and has always struck me as needing more verses.
Likewise Farewell, Farewell by Richard Thompson.

The three songs/tunes above are highly evocative and thus should be prime candidates for the folk process,yet are untouched!

This is a bit of a ramble but in the folk thread I received no response when I asked the question is the folk process dead.(in the western world, specifically the UK)
If the folk process is dead is the artform also dead or simply more organised/labeled/pigeonholed/constrained and prevented from mutation by the accurate transmittal, available to all, in the modern world?
Was the folk process in reality a sad comedy of errors given substance by tunnel visioned academics?