PS ,
I will add to my above post the footnote that while the general public has decided what the word drone means , That decision has been based on the misinformation put out by the sensationalist media who label all quads in the news "drones" ....
I personally favor a bit more of an expanded definition to include CJ Rumley's well thought out reasoning about the "What , Where , and Why" aspect of what differentiates a model aircraft from a drone . All the public has to go on when deciding what a word means is the information presented to them that raises the issue in the first place . Since John Q Public was introduced to quads as drones via 2 second soundbite media reporting , it's highly likely that definition will stick , even though it doesn't take into account the (relatively few) quads that ARE flown LOS as "traditional" model aircraft , or the other technicalities that truly separate the two .
The public has spoken ! ........