Hello. Speaking only for myself, I do not own and use handguns solely for self-defense. I enjoy shooting them because despite the concentration required, I find it relaxing. Having done this for over forty years, much has been with various autoloaders, but quite a lot has been with the double-action revolver (usually S&W) as well. Where it was no issue decades passed, I do find not having to retrieve fired cases a plus.
With respect to self-protection, I use both semiautomatics and DA-revolvers. My constant companion is an S&W Model 642. I tried other firearms and for me, this handgun genre just works best for near 24/7 carry. One firearm that is on constant "house duty" is an old pinned S&W Model 10. It is certainly not "tactical", has the usual 6-shot, low-capacity ammunition payload, and has been converted to DAO use. Can it keep up with the Hi Power, Glock 17, SIG-Sauer P226, et al, with respect to number of shots fired between loadings? The answer is obvious. At the same time, I believe that we "solve our problem(s)" with the first few shots or we run out of time to do so. If the revolver's relatively low number of available shots is an issue for you, there are many, many really fine semiautomatics available. Most quality DA-revolvers worked reliably as homemade sin, but "six for sure" just isn't and wasn't a "universal truth" of some sort. The DA-revolver could (and did malfuction)...just not often in my experience.
The older S&W's may indeed have a nostalgic appeal to many of us. Even though it is not nearly so durable, a polished blue revolver is just a handsome thing to my eyes and having been taught to shoot DA by some fine shots and competitors in my early years, the S&W continues to just feel "right" to me.
For me then, I reckon the answer(s) can be written in different way(s), but once the distilling is done on each, they boil down to, "I just like them."
Of course, my problem with handguns is that I like them all!
Best.