The default fixed font in gnome-terminal is virtually unreadable at higher resolutions. As GNOME requires at least 800x600, I think fixed is a poor choice for a default font. A better choice might be lucida-typewriter-bold or fixed-cronyx-bold. The 8x16 VGA console font is also much more readable than the current default, at any resolution. Granted, a number of these fonts don't support the extended characters used by mc and others, but most of these fonts display blank characters instead, which is acceptable.
Seems reasonable. Will keep the bug open as a TODO item.
Looking again, most of those fonts aren't available in a default install. <plug>I think Courier (adobe) at 14-pt bold would be a fantastic default font since it has serifs, is readable at every resolution I've tried, and will look quite nice once gtk and xfree support the render extension. </plug>
On second thought, with the current default the terminal barely fits onscreen in 640x480. So there is no way to make everyone happy here. That's why it's a preference. ;-)