GNOME 3/Shell was something I hated with every fiber in my body until someone told me to actually give it a chance. They said "don't compare it to Windows, don't compare it to macOS, don't compare it to Gnome 2, just try and learn its idioms and go from there".
It turns out, at least for me, he was 100% right. I grew to really like Gnome after I dropped all preconceived notions about what it was supposed to be. I ended up loving the fact that the number of virtual desktops is dynamic, I ended up really liking how much could be done without a mouse, and I ended up being kind of surprised how it was both pretty and fast on my (admittedly fairly beefy) laptop.
I use macOS right now dude to the fact that I got it at a discount, but the next computer I buy will probably be a Linux machine, and it will probably be running Gnome.
Pure Gnome is not great for me. Gnome could be, but if any fix I apply will inevitably break, it simply isn't something I want to spend time on.
I am very interested in something like Material Shell (1) or PaperWM (2) both inspired by 10gui (3), but if the Gnome foundation layer will keep shaking anything above itself, I just do not want to bother with it.
(1) https://material-shell.com/
(2) https://github.com/paperwm/PaperWM
(3) https://web.archive.org/web/20140414061316/http://10gui.com/