Thanks for all the above opinions - no I will not be assessing each "lyric" for qualification. If people are happy composing poems and calling them lyrics - that's fine by me, I just don't agree.
All I know is that a group of words, even in time and rhyming, do not make a song lyric. I guarantee that practically none of the "lyrics" on the boards ever see the light of day as songs.
Loreena McKennitt put the poem "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred Lord Tennyson to music on her album "The Visit" and it works well - but it is a poem put to music not a song.
I still contend that it was a master stroke by Brian Austin Whitney to include the lyric forums because it increased the interest and membership of JPF enormously. I would guess the lyric boards are the most popular part of the whole site.
Malenac