It's definitely a plus if you're already an avid user but I think it shouldn't be a requirement. Say, if you wanted to learn about compilers, you can efficiently extract a lot more knowledge by going through the source and docs of a real-world compiler project, regardless of your usage, than by merely reading compiler texts.
Agreed, it would be better to become more involved in a project before contributing. Unfortunately for those new to open source, the easiest projects to contribute to are often ones that they've never heard of before. I think that just learning about the process of open source development has it's own merits.
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[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 11.7 ms ] threadIf you want to contribute on an open source project I would say;
1) Become a power user of the project.
2) Become an advocate of the project and help other people to successfully use and apply the project.
3) Then, do all the development stuff described in the article.
This allows you to be become known in the project community and gain trust with the other developers and show your commitment.