It is just like bitcoin
"..except it's an offshoot that uses a different method of mining than bitcoin (scrypt) that has it's own advantages and disadvantages."
Seems like a pretty sound explanation to me. Why wouldn't they just be able to say that?
My point is that they cannot talk about it without also talking about bitcoin. The only way some other cryptocurrency will overtake bitcoins is if it brought something new, so you would not have to compare it to bitcoins. Why get a copy when you can just use the original?