I often feel like I should be contributing more to certain projects as I depend on them daily, but often feel I would mostly be getting in the way.
Do you have any projects that you are not a main developer but do submit patches to?
Any stumbling blocks keeping you from lending a hand?
I'm simply too busy to devote time to any programming I don't get paid for - whether that's open-source projects or my own projects.
I've submitted patches to various OSS projects, and most interactions have been very pleasant. The most common issue is when the patch simply sits and rots in a Bugzilla while the core devs do...I don't know, body shots off hookers? Sometimes I've had a patch sit for so long that when my pleas for attention are finally heard, the feature in question has already been replaced by something else anyway.
And a note to any project maintainers that might read this -- use a real host for your version control!! If you want to keep the main development branch in your home server, that's fine, but at least mirror it to Google Code or Launchpad or something so when you drop off the net I can still get the code.
I generally contribute to projects when I come across a bug that I find greatly irritating. I'll submit the patch to their bug tracker then move on to some other project or bug. The likelihood of coming back to submit patches to the same project depends mainly on how responsive its maintainers are, and secondly on how buggy the application is.
Contributing doesn't mean just submitting code. It can be all sort of things, including being helpful on forums and mailing lists, proof reading docs, submitting bug reports, writing up a "HOWTO", etc.
A lot of that is in parallel to what the core team may be doing, and it's easy to get in and do gradually.
I gave some money to the NeoOffice people when I started to see messages on their website suggesting donations (I only visit when I need a patch, which is just about every time I start NeoOffice). Unfortunately it seems very few others have given money because their message suggesting donations is getting more prominent. I would give more if I used it more often, but I prefer iWork.
I'm a debian developer, and was fairly active when I first became one over ten years ago, but don't do much these days.
What stops me doing more? Only that I'm programming all day at work and don't really want to do the same thing in my leisure time. (yes, I know lots of people who program all day at work and to relax like nothing better than more of the same; I'm not one of them).
Because I use Linux on a daily basis (as not only a development platform but also as a desktop and media server), I constantly run into small problems with the kernel or installed modules that, for example, make my SATA RAID array fail. When I find a bug with how the SATA RAID wakes from a suspended state because the driver is looking for a [parallel] ATA drive, I fix it and submit the patch to whomever maintains the driver.
If everyone submitted the small changes it took to get their system working, we would be much close to having software that works for everyone.