maybe this was appropriate when there was bitcoin and a few alts but at this point it seems like a silly distinction to make that is not helpful to the industry as a whole.
having one forum just for bitcoin and then another forum for all other coins is ridiculous
Don't be hurt but that's the reality and it's continuous that bitcoin is origin of these coins and it's the main crypto currency.
So alternative coin = alt coin still does apply.
We are generalizing other projects / token / coins as alt coins because there are so many in the economy.