I told myself when they redesigned their '90s website I would try their desktop again. Well they recently redesigned their website for the first in almost 20 years, so I owe Mint another try! 
But yes Mint, Cinnamon, Mate, etc. all seemed very dated.
Only just now seen your reply!
Yeah, I guess this makes sense. If you use your desktop a certain way and you experience countless times of crashing and freezing, then the distro doing it would put a sour taste in one’s mouth. I completely get that. I was just shocked because most people I hear talking about Linux talk up Ubuntu and Mint to the moon.