Two questions

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I don't care about the terminology.
I care about the process of diagnosis, and I don't think that self-diagnosis is complete enough to say that one has autism due to lack of observation and analysis from outside own mind.
Professional diagnosis is not perfect either, but it usually includes self-report + clinical report from outside + early childhood history from outside, while self-diagnosis lacks two of three.

The professional diagnostic process can lead to misdiagnosis either by not diagnosing autistic people with autism or diagnosing non-autistic people with autism, and both probably happen at rates that are difficult to know at this time.
It is not an ideal system or even in my opinion a particularly good system, but it is what is currently available with our level of knowledege and technology.
Although it is not ideal, it at least covers three major things that need to be taken into account when making an ASD diagnosis.
In the future, the system will improve as knowledge and technology improve to cover more major things and perhaps decrease the importance of current measures like self-report and clinical report and childhood history report, all of which are highly subjective.
Unlike professional diagnosis, self-diagnosis only covers one thing, self-report, so no matter how much someone knows about autism or the brain or oneself, the process of self-diagnosis is still fundamentally incomplete.

I've been fairly open with my self diagnosis, hence the username. Most other people I come across here though in the threads claim to have diagnosis. So no, I don't think the discussion here is directed by what I see as a minority. I haven't seen self dx'ed people aggressively defending their self dx either. Maybe I'm just not following the right threads.

1. No.

2. Yes.

But not necessarily the narratives you're thinking of.

I fail to see how anyone here "governs" the forum; we are entitled to read or not read any posts we choose; if you don't want to read long posts from self-diagnosed/suspected aspies who are just looking for answers, that's your right; why should they not have an equal right to ask their questions?

Obviously not all self-diagnosers are correct, however, as Skibum said, we do not have the authority to dictate who's wrong and who's not here on the forums; if we did, there would be no need for proper assessments. You say it's the expected norm that we all accept such self-diagnosers as 100% valid, but that's not true. I've seen many "have I got Asperger's" posters who received straightforward, logical advice such as, "I'm not sure, but you don't sound like you have AS because...." Not everyone always assumes that every self-diagnoser is correct, however, for those who have come to the forum as self-diagnosed and who aren't looking for answers or validation of their self-diagnosis, it's simply a matter of respect that we acknowledge their status and treat them like anyone else. There is no reason to ostracize or be unkind to someone simply because they don't have access to the resources for a diagnosis that they need. It took me over two years to find a place I could afford to do my test for me, but in that interim, my lack of funding and resources did not make my symptoms and struggles any less legitimate.

Can you give an example of an instance in which Autism Speaks actually did something effective for the autistic community, rather than for the parents who are "suffering" as a result of raising us and who just want to jab us with a needle and cure us? (Not saying all parents of autistics are like this, pretty much just the ones who believe in Autism Speaks, because it offers the propaganda they're looking for.) Can you find a person who agrees that Autism Speaks is a good idea who is also in favour of autistic rights and equality? There's a logical reason the majority of people around here hate that organisation, and it has nothing to do with "bandwagon appeal".

I think of it this way. I self diagnosed with borderline personality disorder before. It was heavily implied I had it, but I was never formally diagnosed. All of the BPD people always accepted me. It was in their view that if you think you have this horrible illness, you should try to identify it and get help.

I have self diagnosed with OCD before and I do indeed think I have it. I was formally diagnosed with this.

This along with PTSD, Bipolar, so on. But I was eventually formally diagnosed with those, too. On every single forum that I was on, not one person felt insulted that I felt like I had Bipolar or anything else. Why? Because I took it seriously and they could see my distress and my obvious symptoms.

The people on here who self-diagnose seem to do so because they are in distress. A lot of us can't get a formal diagnosis for various reasons (often financial). I say if the traits fit, and you get along with other aspies, it may be extremely helpful to self diagnose and attempt to "self help". Self diagnosis is often a vehicle for formal diagnosis, anyways. For those of us that have been misdiagnosed and are on the spectrum, it can be helpful to self diagnose (if you've done enough research). I was told time and time again I was not autistic, and yet I knew I was. I just had suspicions at first. It took me a year to actually dissect my thoughts and determine my objective problems. I then went and had the testing done.

I personally did not self diagnose until right before my test. Up until then, I made absolutely sure that I had the traits and was being as objective as possible. I find many others here are the exact same way as me. If I didn't find the non-profit center who diagnose me, I would not be diagnosed even though I am autistic as it would have been too expensive.

It's important to remember that if you have access to crappy mental health care, you probably will be misdiagnosed. Unless you have fictitious disorder, I believe a lot of people on here don't just impulsively make a diagnosis. They go through logical steps and really understand themselves before even attempting it. A lot of mental health professionals insisted I was wrong about myself and told me to stop trying to self diagnose, even though I was way more correct than they would ever be. This is because I listened to myself and didn't jump to conclusions.