There is very clearly a problem with the screen coating on a (in my case) $3500 machine, and Apple needs to be called out on this one. Bravo to the OP for bring this to light.
The problem is that 258 some-odd people, out of the what, several tens of thousands of people who have experienced this issue is not a "clearly" situation.
That's, conservatively, about .1% of owners experiencing a problem, and it is entirely within reason to believe the issue is user-caused, baring some reproducible test case.
... In addition of course to all the ones experiencing this effect after using a tee shirt, tissue, paper towel, or other cloth. The guy you’re responding to definitely shouldn’t be using a paper towel to clean the screen.
Still though, that doesn’t cause a problem with most other Apple laptop/phone/tablet displays, so people who now have scratched up screens didn’t ever expect this could happen, and weren’t trying especially hard to be careful about it. Apple should at the very least do a much better job warning their customers.
What grounds do you have for believing that web reach is an accurate estimator for this problem?
Why are you using a paper towel? I've always considered them to be moderately abrasive.
From the pattern of the issue (http://i.imgur.com/gnAqDqk.jpg) you can see it has absolutely nothing to do with cleaning. In fact, it's mostly the edges of the screen that need to be wiped. The center, where the issue is, rarely if ever needs to be wiped/cleaned. On top of that you can see a pattern from the keyboard under the main issue area.
Someone above mentioned heat. Maybe it's closing an MBP after playing a game. They literally get too hot to touch. You have to make sure you fingers don't touch between the keys or else OUCH!
Checking where the area of issue touches the main body of the MBP it's the area between the touchpad and the keyboard that lines up with the area of the screen with all issue.
I know a lot of people go overboard when cleaning the screen. Either driven by OCD, you tend to clean it too often, putting way too much elbow grease and constant use of solvent. At the other end are those who let their laptops get covered in dirt and grime, thus, when they do decide to clean it, it's easy to do too much because that's the required effort.
What I would do is make sure after each use or every night, give your laptop a light wipe or dusting- eg. using a Swifter duster (use the 360º duster instead of the single-sided as it would minimise accidental scraping). If you don't have an old, soft cotton white t-shirt, use a good light colored micro-fibre cloth. Why white or light colored? To easily detect sand or dirt.
Now I'm annoyed that the cloth included in the box is deepest black.
(My pet theory: Acids and oils left by the user's hands/fingers on the keyboard/case that react with the screen coating when the MBP is closed. Heat from clamshell mode could act as an additional catalyst.)
Can the keys come in contact with the screen when closed, not just sitting on the desk but upside down/etc. When closing the laptop to turn it off is heat passively dissipated properly? Metal lids would seem a good way to trap it.
Chlorine and heat will affect glasses, I bet the same can be said for these laptop screens.
I have a feeling that with a database of 258 people, you should be able to find out what people are using to clean their screens and damaging them. Cleaning your screen using those bleach wipes is a sure fire way to damage it!