does anyone really care?

No, those are examples.

I'm looking for:

"A statement of the meaning of a word, phrase, or term, as in a dictionary entry."

One as universally applicable as possible. Not a picture of what some people would consider a hipster in February 2010. I want a concrete outline of its implications in general terms.

toots,

That's the opposite of concise.

Apparently so.

we aren't, by chance, doing your homework assignment for you are we?

damnit Drinky, this is just your way of seeing us all fail collectively, isn't it?

if this is for an assignment, it would be really appropriate to answer "what, you mean you don't know?"

hipsters must have to buy a shitload more clothes and accessories than I do, whether it be from hip boutiques or thrift stores. They can't still be wearing the same 80's dayglo shit from last year, can they? Don't they have to update to remain on that "cutting edge"?

Whereas I am wearing the same International Noise Conspiracy t shirt and jeans I was wearing 7 years ago (provided the crotch hasn't given way on the jeans).

slow day.

On Obner?

They're just the latest in a long line of jobless young 'uns who like to dress funny and smoke a lot of weed or do coke. They can be pretty annoying, but are basically harmless and will all eventually shave off the ironic facial hair and get real jobs once they need health insurance.

I don't think being jobless has anything to do with it.

If anything, a lot of these alleged hipsters work in retail and food service.

weird. i think i know that dude.

bam.

they are pretty much trend setters in the fashion and music world. where things get confusing is

1) see the above section about irony.

and

2) within the hipster culture there is a (presumably naturally occurring) hierarchy of coolness which somehow both does and doesn't transcends the "effort" to be cool. see also: the end of the Homerpalooza episode on the Simpsons:
In the car, on the trip to go home, Homer concludes his adventure:

Homer: So, I realized that being with my family is more important than being cool.
Bart: Dad, what you just said was powerfully uncool.
Homer: You know what the song says: "It's hip to be square".
Lisa: That song is so lame.
Homer: So lame that it's... cool?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Am I cool, kids?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Good. I'm glad. And that's what makes me cool, not caring right?
Bart+Lisa: No.
Marge: Well, how the hell do you be cool? I feel like we've tried
everything here.
Homer: Wait, Marge. Maybe if you're truly cool, you don't need to be told you're cool.
Bart: Well, sure you do.
Lisa: How else would you know?

Are they trendsetters or fashion victims? They're generally derided as the latter and never credited as the former.

It's generally a derisive term, after all.

curious as to why you're asking the question

It's just one of my least favorite words.

I mean there's definitely some real twats running around that are part of some snooty subculture and deserve some manner of ridicule, but the term hipster as a catch-all is so lazily overused as to have been rendered pretty much meaningless.

See also: irony

Pretty much anyone wearing the uniform is a hipster.

<----this guy, amirite

Describe this uniform.

Is this uniform the same that it was in, say, 2004? Is it the same in every region/country?

Right now it's painfully tight dark jeans, retro sneakers, white belt, outlandish yet superfluous eyewear, and look-at-me shaggy fucked up hair.

thrillhouse,

fuck you.

-Drinky

Why don't you try clicking on those Google results yourself? Particularly the Urban Dictionary one? It might look familiar, actually, if you've read any of this thread, which you haven't.