The point that stands out for me in this thread is that of entertainment.
I am just at the start of a self-imposed month long singing ban (trying to rid myself of bad habits & entrench some better ones). I am looking forward to going along to the local open mic session as audience for a while - and I expect to learn a lot.
Last time I didn't sing I was amazed at what a difference the change in perspective made to the evening. I found that, as a participant, I would give a lot of leeway to the other performers - but as audience I was far more demanding.
There are a lot of people getting up and singing, but who are not entertaining at all to the disinterested listener. And these sessions tend to be in pubs, where we have to co-exist with a lot of disinterested drinkers. There are some performers who are stunning technically, but who do not entertain. There are others who are not so good musically or vocally, but who are genuinely engaging and entertaining performers. There are some who are neither good nor entertaining - and its only when you are part of the audience that you realise what an imposition that can be. I don't mean to be harsh - but I am talking about a particular session where the presence of mics & speakers etc implies a certain expectation in the audience - and when this is not fulfilled it leaves me personally feeling a bit embarrassed at the bunch of precious fools we must appear to the pub's non-folkie regulars.
Fortunately there are some people around who are excellent and entertaining (not me yet - but I'm working on it) - but several mentions above of the starving out of these types is sending cold shivers down my spine.
This entertainment issue is something I need to think about and really work on if I want to be entertaining myself - but it is very hard to accurately evaluate entertainment when you are part of it!

That all rambled on a bit more than I intended - but I feel better now its off my chest......

I think my post has probably crept right away from the point of the thread - but sometimes I get so tangled up between when all inclusive tolerance is good, and when its just fooling itself.

Kris (aka confused & stressed of UK)