To be honest, I don't know the origin of self-made term in the forum.
For me, I inspired by LoyceV and his personal texts.
I started to use the term and also setup my personal texts with 'self-made' Full Member, then Senior Member.

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You raised a big question, Vod.
How about the idea to add the term 'self-made' into bitcointalk dictionary?
or the topic Terminology (by yogi)

Another funny term, such as 'merit-made' should be taken into consideration as well.