Before you rage, perhaps you should read this.

[Islington]

http://mikethecoder.com/2009/11/16/the-number-one-rule-of-open-source

Interesting blog post, slightly adult language.

[starcannon]

+1 Excellent article.

Thanks for linking.

[betrunkenaffe]

indeed, I don't usually report issues but I also don't complain about them...

actually, I don't really notice them in OSS which is odd because I'm always whining about the tools at my work which were inhouse developed and I can't get feedback back to devs :P

I loved this article.

[RabbitWho]

I don't think I've ever complained, but I haven't done anything to help either... except suggest it to other people or try to give help to people here when their problems are actually basic enough for someone like me to understand.

[LinuxFanBoi]

You dont have to be a coder to contribute to the open source community. You dont even have to report bugs, or suggest improvements. It can be as simple as posting the solution to found for a problem. It's probable that anything you're having trouble with someone else is having trouble with as well.

My biggest suggestion for those who are getting into the backend of linux and dabbling in code/script writting like myself, If you borrow someone elses work and mod it for your own perposses, Please publish your modifications to the original author, even if your not going to gain anything other than your own personal use. After all that's the founding principal that the GNU GPL was based on.