"Hipster" is a pejorative like "douchebag" or "nerd." It is a venn diagram of characteristics in which "you" and "people you hate" overlap, creating a person just enough like you to aggravate but just enough unlike you to be dismissive. This is why there will never be a "hard boiled" definition - a hipster is someone you don't like, for reasons that are best left unsaid, because the reasons aren't important, the dislike is.
It's funny how these terms go from positive to negative and back again. In 04-05, some of my friends proudly referred to themselves as hipsters. My middle-school aged son says it's cool to be a nerd now. I guess douchebag is what it is though…."Hipster" is a pejorative like "douchebag" or "nerd."
The newest one is neckbeard, and I think that really puts the "like you but not enough" concept into perspective. Like, what the fuck is a neckbeard. No one has ever met a "real" one in real life, because it's just a catch-all term. Same with "social justice warriors." It's freaky how the internet can just do that with labels.
Oh, I dunno. There are true neckbeards in Seattle. Thing is, there isn't that much endemically wrong with them. I mean, Lincoln was a neckbeard. Up where I knew 'em, a "neckbeard" was more likely to be into Steampunk and likely had a BMI over 30. You're right, though, "basement-dwelling neckbeard" is a highly refined sobriquet, just like "teenaged crack-whore welfare mom." There's probably a couple out there somewhere, but they aren't hell-bent on voting for Obama, they're hell-bent on turning tricks for cocaine.