Yes, the only reason I'd use __defineGetter__ would be a fallback for Object#defineProperty.
I'm curious if the IE8 limitation could be worked around, using something like:
if (ie8)
RactiveBaseModel.prototype = HTMLAnchorElement.prototype;
No one should use __defineGetter__ and __defineSetter__ because they are non-standard and deprecated[1].
[0] http://kangax.github.io/es5-compat-table/#define-property-ie...
[1] https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/JavaScript/Refe...
Edit: left this tab open and I see this point has since been made, but I will leave the comment anyways.