As you point out I believe it's mostly down to the generational differences and how they perceive these things. Twitter of course has a younger audience than old-school forums.
I'm on the older side (pfp is my real pic) but I take such an interest in all these things so I have to be open-minded about new perspectives, and I've become fascinated with looks theory. As @edouard mentioned about older generations, when I was growing up and even through young adulthood, looks in regards to men was a very taboo discussion topic. In some ways it wasn't even in the public consciousness (though, of course, subconsciously it was always perceptible). Even as a young adult, going to the gym just to look better was only starting to be publicly recognized as an important thing to do.