There does seem to be a group of people who think that not using tilesets or utilities makes them somehow better, and argue furiously that these things are pointless. Really I don't understand the mindset. It is pretty clear that dwarf therapist does a very good job of presenting otherwise obscured information. Its fine to like using ASCII tiles or the default job interface, but trying to argue it is better is very strange.
Anyway, the UI debate shouldn't be seen as "pro-UI" vs "anti-UI" because I think we can all agree that intuitive user interface is in general a good thing (even pro- and anti-mouse is silly because nobody is talking about removing keyboard functions). It is just a question of priority. Toady avoids UI changes because, if I remember correctly, he worries about moving everything to a system that needs to be totally overhauled because of some future functionality. UI improvements mid-development can really turn into a time-waster when there is a chance you will just be throwing them away.
The question here is if there is a system for these things that would universally work, be intuitive, and wouldn't need updating when new features are added. The question of what to update is important as well. Toady is, as is often pointed out, only one guy, so he can only work on one ting at a time, and in the end, all of our debates and questions are really about what is highest priority.