Except when you actually need one... Which it sounds like you did. The facebook lawyers probably didn't bother responding because they knew you had almost no teeth.
No one, on this forum or otherwise, is in any position to evaluate whether or not someone else truly might need a lawyer. Every case tends to be full of nuance.
In my case, you have a history with the plaintiff/opposer, some part of which is confidential, someone who just spent a year as a fellow at Stanford Law School, and who has worked with probably thirty lawyers on various cases, including several trademark cases in the past.
I got a motion for sanctions against Facebook's lawyers granted in part, as well as a motion reversing their redaction choices. Granted, I didn't win, but I might not have expected to going in, and it shows at the very least that I'm not your average pro se plaintiff.
I think people either really overestimate the abilities of lawyers, or underestimate a persons ability to learn and understand the law and legal process themselves.
Yes, good lawyers are valuable and cannot be underestimated. But let's not be fooled to think that some C student lawyer who limped though the Bar is any more capable than someone with passion and intellect devoted to a specific case or issue.
"Lawyers are an enormous waste of money and in most circumstances a drain on society."
But you also say:
"No one, on this forum or otherwise, is in any position to evaluate whether or not someone else truly might need a lawyer. Every case tends to be full of nuance."
Why the absolute statement as well as the contradiction if in fact you believe that "No one, on this forum or otherwise, is in any position to evaluate whether or not someone else truly might need a lawyer."