"Folks" has been brought up here before but it's annoying me more and more, and I almost can't believe it's stuck around this long (people were complaining about it in this thread over 2 years ago!)
I can at least understand the excuse that it's replacing the gendered "you guys" -- I think this is a non-issue, but I see where they're coming from.
What I can't stand is when it's used instead of "people", "colleagues," "students," and other perfectly normal, genderless, and often more descriptive words.
For example, in a workplace discussion troubleshooting a software bug: "Some folks have reported that doing X fixes the problem."
I never would've used "guys" in that sentence, so I don't get why anyone would use "folks" in that context.
I find it incredibly distracting every time it's used because I'm certain no one feels natural using it.