You are using a very loose definition of a cult. Surely you know that 'cult' carries some different (negative) connotations for other people?
Regardless of whether one chooses to call us a cult or not, this does not change what we are.
It might not change what we are but it has some negative consequences. People like you who call us a cult while using a different meaning of 'cult' turn new members away because they hear that LessWrong is a cult and they don't hear your different meaning of the word (which excludes most of the negative traits of bloody cults).
Why a "bloody" cult? What image does "cult" summon in your mind? Cthulhu followers? Osho's Cadillac collection? The Kool Aid?
I'm beginning to see where you're going with this. Calling us a cult is like calling Marting Luther King a criminal. Technically correct, but misleading, because of the baggage the word carries.
We would do well, then, to list all the common traits and connotations of a cult, good and bad, and all the ways we are demonstrably different or better than that. That way, we'd have a ready-made response we could release ...
If it's worth saying, but not worth its own post (even in Discussion), then it goes here.