RE: Who has taught themself?
Self Taught. Borrowed Real Flight G3 from a friend for a month. Then got eager and bought a cheap 4 channel RTF foamie (Hobbico Cessna 182). Probably not the best plane to start with but definately taught me how to really control and handle a plane real fast.
2nd plane about a month later was a GP Lancair ES EP. Again very aggressive second plane for me. But I learned how to land hand and do many basic acrobatics with the brushless setup.
Now have two 60+" glows (Shoestring and Lanier Ultimate Biplane)
It is definately possible to learn on your own, but I would have much rather had some coaching during my learning experience. Some people just have a little more natural ablility than others.
I have close to a year of flying experience now and I am currently training a friend of mine on a NexStar with a buddy box.