Russ,

4) Ownership is also about dues-paying. Newbies don't get the same treatment as old-timers. Newbies have to learn their place. But, a newbie who gets toasted for singing someone else's song AND graciously treats it as a learning experience AND comes back, passes a test.

The test is that he's a sucker and will put up with any crap to be around the "in-crowd", right?

If a new person turns up, do they get told which songs they're barred from singing? If so, and they still do it, that's rude from them - they've been told the rules and chosen to break them. A quiet word from the organiser at the bar afterwards to the effect of "Charlie's not got many songs, so he does that one and we leave it to him" is one thing, but getting "toasted" for it is something else altogether. I strongly suggest the "toaster" chooses their target carefully, bcos verbal abuse plus alcohol is a good combination for a punchup...

Graham.