Cloning suggests gaining a second copy of a card in your possession or that you're just gaining. It doesn't mean just "gaining things"; that was crj's entire point to start with.
And why is it strategically important to "clone" things instead of just "gaining" them?
This question, of course, is completely irrelevant to anything I stated. I never claimed a specific strategic benefit, just that others were pointlessly expanding a term.
Despite this, you'll find there's a quite easy to find trend that cloning tends to be done at cheaper opportunity cost than gaining. Talisman giving a coin and not wasting an action compared to workshop, Changling being a one card opportunity cost with no action required vs any potential "gain a generic action" card.
Cloning is more restrictive, not less, than generically gaining them. But the cloning cards cost less or give other benefits by working within that restriction.