The real problem with the interface argument, any many others, is that it always hits the impenetrable wall of the alpha counter-argument. "It's an alpha, therefore we don't need to fix it yet." "Fixing the interface in alpha would be a detriment to further development." Etc. etc. Which is technically correct but...
...Dwarf Fortress is not an alpha. Not in the typical sense, where alphas are a shortish (say, a year) time frame with a definite end. Dwarf Fortress is expected to reach version 1.0 in about 20 years (?) which stretches the definition of alpha
quite a bit. While some people are happy to judge the game by alpha standards, many others (me included) do not. By all normal standards except the official numbering, Dwarf Fortress is a released product with an established player base that just keeps getting further "expansion packs".
The problem here is simple. I think noone would mind accepting the "alpha argument" if there was an end in sight. Something like: "I'd love to finish the caravan and army arcs, after which I'll proclaim the game beta and will focus on polishing more." I've bought and supported many games with development models like this (Mountain Blade, Minecraft) and unlike Dwarf Fortress, people seemed quite happy with the deal and didn't moan. But the point is that all of these had attainable, near ends to the "testing" phase. Mountain Blade, for example, keeps getting updates and expansions up to this day, but it did reach version 1.0 a couple of years ago and did go through a polishing phase before going on with expansions. It
could have been alpha even now, sure, but the developers wisely decided against it, to the benefit of all. But if you have a project where the alpha is supposed to take 20 years, it is basically meaningless and only leads to frustration.
The deal here is that Dwarf Fortress is a unique project in the sense that Toady doesn't really care about the player base, and instead does it for himself. I can't compare it to anything because I don't know about any similar project like that. And I'm not mad at Toady either, it's his game after all, but you can't be surprised that people keep bringing it up.
TLDR version: for god's sake, stop using the alpha argument already. A 20 years long development arc is not an alpha, no matter what the official label says! Also: The development schedule needs some serious rethinking.