That is not to say that I wouldn't, but there is another thing to consider. I am a sysadmin and not a programmer. I write a little Perl code and heavily use CPAN for wheels that should not be recreated. I just don't program on a regular basis and doubt that my programming would ever be good enough to give back to CPAN at any level what I have extracted from it.

I am a monk, I sit here and (mostly) feel like I am lurking in programming discussions that I understand but don't program enough any more to actually solve. I vote and occasionally participate in discussions but being a non-programmer these days it is mostly just my opinions more than actual programming help.

The community is large and strong. I just suspect that there are many, many more people in my shoes than in the shoes of the people who actually have the skills to donate back to the community.