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What is the best Gnome2 fork these days? I remember using Mate back when I couldn't stand Gnome3 - is it still the best alternative?

MATE, XFCE, and Cinnamon are all pretty good imo

MATE is a GNOME 2 fork created to continue its development without the radical turn of GNOME 3.

Cinnamon is actually a GNOME 3 fork created to turn it back into a more traditional desktop environment.

XFCE is not a fork of any version of GNOME, although it does have a UI similar to GNOME 2 and is based on GTK.

Personally, I switched to XFCE back when GNOME 3 came out, and have been happy with it.

MATE is still very good. These days it feels rock solid and looks very polished too.