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To me, steampunk needs to have an element from each of the first four sections and the last section is an added bonus.

Premise
• Science fiction
Settings
• Victorian era, but anywhere in the world
• Alternate universe, but still fairly equivalent to the technology of Victorian times
Power Sources
• Steam
• Clockwork
• Magic
• Made up power sources
Scenarios
• Exploration
• Mad science
• Invention
• Transportation
• Altered history
Elements
• Anachronism
• Airships
• Automatons

Regarding the "Victorian" element, I would say that you can't have steampunk without some manner of inspiration from the 19th century, be it in the technology, the fashion or some other element of the world being constructed. It does not have to be set during the actual Victorian era of our world, nor an alternate history version thereof. It can be futuristic or an alternate present day but there has to be some 19th century inspiration, probably centered around Victorian-era Europe, for it to be considered steampunk. If we don't take that strict time period of inspiration into account, you can just as easily label dieselpunk or clockpunk as steampunk, and all of them would really just be speculative historical fiction.

My only essentials, and they are not exclusive Tinker, are technological outlook/structure based upon Victorian era Europe and some manner of a Victorian cultural themes such as: exploration, colonization, industrial revolution, or imperialism.

I'd agree with Ottens' estimation of the temporal dividing line between steam and dieselpunk. I think WWI is the cut-off for the period the steampunk aesthetic fits into…So firstly, there must be a neo-Victorian aspect to a work to be considered steampunk…"Technofantasy in a neo-Victorian retrofuture." That's my pedantic definition. Currently cooking up a chapter for an anthology on fantasy and fairy tale to this effect.

So perhaps a "nineteenth-century-ness" with anachronistically advanced technology?

For nineteenth century, I used "neo-Victorian", not as "new" Victorian, but as the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “resembling, reviving, or reminiscent of, the Victorian era.” This requires the caveat that it is EVOCATION, not EMULATION of an ERA, not a GEOGRAPHY or TEMPORALITY that is the key for steampunk here (sorry for the caps - I'm in a hurry and suck at italicizing with this forum). In other words, it doesn't HAVE to be about London, but it does have to be about the 19th century (though not necessarily taking place IN the 19th century - just evoking the sense of it). Like I said, I'm working on a term. Still don't have it.

I'm intrigued by the science fiction idea - unless it's referring to sci-fi and fantasy as one genre, an awful lot of steampunk genre work rests on tenuous scientific research, at best. I wouldn't qualify works that centered on, say, airships like what we posted in the other thread, it as sci-fi at all, but rather, a peculiar branch of historical fantasy. It sort of pulls elements from all over the place, really.
For me, I think the anachronisms and 19th-century-esque setting, more than any elements, are what makes something really "steampunk". It definitely doesn't have to be brown or overtly industrial, just infused with technological things that don't really match with history, but mix well with the setting nonetheless.