If fine configuration (tweaking) of Gnome is not something that your sublass of user (luser?) that Gnome is 'targeting' really wants to do, why would they do it? 'Sane Defaults' would take care of that.

Once again, making this hard to do, DOES NOT ADD VALUE to the desktop. Nobody is clamoring for a desktop that is harder to tweak - though they might once have looked for one that is simpler to use. The two concepts are not even vaguely similar. And here's a clue for you - simpler to use, and easier to tweak - can exist in the same product. FIREFOX IS LIVING PROOF OF THIS. It is both simpler to use than it's ancestor, Mozilla, and easier to tweak.

Gnome is simpler to use - maybe, when it works. It is also HARDER to tweak (and fix). Projecting Firefox's success onto Gnome is false for that reason.