GNOME is an international project (which is available in 38 languages) and is the default desktop environment for nearly all if not all major Linux distributions, including Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, and SUSE Linux Enterprise. Gnome 2 began a focus on productivity which lead to the Gnome Human Interface Guidelines (HIG) which helps developers create high-quality and consistent programs that are accessible to people with disabilities.
Consistency is key, as a lot of the reason tech support most often refers to the Command Line Interface (CLI) for Linux is a lack of a consistent GUI for Linux. Instead of rallying behind this possible solution ('just use Gnome') that could easily add new users to Linux, Linux users are focused on trying to convince people that Linux is better than Windows with notoriously buggy (and self confessing about it) and sloppy Plasma.
Gnome encourages good computing habits. Many that try Gnome didn't take the time to learn why other people like it. Gnome teaches by force to not clutter the desktop. It also rewards people that use keyboard shortcuts. It's modern and doesn't come across as beta software.
Many people aren't happy with any Desktop Environment (DE) and move on to a window manager, often being a tiling window manager (TWM). It's not a bad idea to keep a Desktop Environment like Gnome around as backup.
Gnome could be one of the best things for Linux IF Linux users would simply get behind it the way the major distributions have. And Gnome doesn't need tweaks (inconsistencies) - it simply needs users to learn how it's intented to be used.
