"people like GUEST" - there are nine posts in this thread from "GUEST", so there's no way if there's one of them or nine of them, so it's no point getting into arguments with them/him/her.

.. if you like folk music you are a folkie no matter what age you are. It is pretty confusing to start giving every new generation a new "tag", and stops the continuity..." Absolutely.

And it's just not true that there's any antipathy in the folk scen in England to people who write songs. New songs with roots in the folk tarditions are coming through all the time, and good songs too - but the focus tends to be on the songs rather than the singer. More often than not people don't have a clue who actually wrote a song, or who famous has recorded it. And that's how it should be.