<p>I just (attempted to) reject an edit to include the "self-study" tag in a question, because the editor was "pretty certain that this is a self-study/homework question". "Self-study" is I think the only tag that refers to how the question relates to the OP, and not to the content of the question, and I don't think it is appropriate to add it to a question through an edit - we should ask the OP instead.  </p>

<p>I am posting this because while I was writing the reason for rejecting the edit, somebody else accepted it. So I figured, there are diverging views on the matter, and hence room for discussion.</p>

<p>So the question is: <strong>"Should we add the "self-study" tag through an edit, or should we always ask the OP to do so?</strong>"</p>

<p><strong>Response to Andy W comments and the "duplicate" issue</strong>  </p>

<p>As is usually the case, Whuber's answers are exemplary, but he too writes "<em>In my experience, around half of the questions the community initially believes to be homework turn out, in fact, not to be so"</em>. <strong>Since the way we approach a "self-study" question has differences with any other</strong>, I believe that a 50% chance of being wrong is enough to validate a policy of "always ask first".</p>
