Michael I am just as confused as you so at first I was pleased you asked the question but now ….?
Well I am sorry you did as I am more confused than ever.
I want to give my 5 cents, I looked into it a while ago.
1) 100% crop is a wrong term, so try to forget it.
2) What people do want to say with it is that they cropped the image. So what you do see is not the photo like it was originally framed, but they cut it up differently. That is the main point.
3) But why do you add 100%? In programs you can run programs that will change the number of pixels per inch, this will change the quality. In a 100% image this was not done, so you can judge what the qualtiy on the sensor was.
To clarify this last point:
Cropping will change the number of pixels on your file, but not the pixels per inch, so it normally keeps 100% of the quality of the picture taken.
You can go to less pixels per inch, this is general to control a smaller print, your picture might have more pixels then the printer can handle for the print size. You control your print better, but you loose quality.
You can go to more pixels per inch, to print a wall size for example, but the software will
have to "guess" at the best way to add pixels to the image. This will obviously change the quality.
So when someone states 100% crop, you should ask: So you cropped it, but you did not change the quality of the image?
I understand that some people state you cropped it so it views on a screen in maximum quality, but then some are looking on their old smartphone and others on their 4K television, you can not size it for everyone. There are other factors then pixels per inch that determine quality (raw, TIFF and JPEG have different properties, etc...) ... I´m not good enough to link that in the story.
PS: I post almost everything cropped and with lower file sizes in jpg (lower Q).