I waded through the thread carefully, and there was much about process, and some about style (sophisticated or not). But little about content. Surely there are some types of content that "help" a song become a folk song - historical references for example (military or social history mainly). If then a song gets written about current events, is it a folk song or not? The recent (14 Aug 2002) demise of the biggest trawler fleet in Lowestoft, UK, caused songs to be written; some got played on radio - but they are not popular music; most get sung in folk clubs - but the processes outlined above would prevent them from being termed "folk songs". What are they?

In other words, there are several ways (and several processes) that can be followed, and they are not even necessarily linear. Life is not black and white, why should folk music be? And the lesson I have learned reading this thread is: Labels on music are less important than the act of getting together to sing and enjoy each other's (and yet others') songs, and in doing so fostering a higher social (and historical) conscience as well as preserving and promoting non-commercial forms of music.

In one sentence: It is folk singing that is important, less so the folk song or how to best stick the "folk" label on someone's creation.