I'm subscribed to several packages on Freshmeat, even though I don't download them - instead I get the new versions when the Debian packages are released.

Why do I do this?

The same reason that I rate projects on Freshmeat - so that the program author can see one more happy user. (Trust me if I'm unhappy I send mail to tell people. Actually to be fair I'll usually mail an author if they've done a great job too :)

I notice that with my listed projects I can have lots of users who are notified of new releases, but don't take the time to rate them.

Sure that makes sense, you see something nice. You download it play with it for a few minutes then subscribe for convienence - but you've not used it enough to know how well it works, or how broken it is.

But it's a shame.

Please if you're subscribed to any projects on Freshmeat run, don't walk, over there and rate all of the projects you're tracking. Make somebodies day with some positive feedback...