Same! It's daunting. I don't want to sound paranoid but what bugs me more is that more than rarely I see things I was just talking to my friend about (in person) showing up in ads when I scroll my social feeds...
(Btw I'm an iPhone user and have all tracking settings turned off as well.)
"Getting to Yes" is a legendary handbook for negotiation, and I would add one more to the reading list - "Never Split the Difference" by Chris Voss, former international hostage negotiator for the FBI.
My takeaways from the book:
1. You have a better chance at getting what you want once you establish a connection with your counterpart. Small talk do help.
2. Ask open questions and invite suggestions to "trick" the other negotiating party to seek solutions for you.
3. As the book title reveals, never split the difference. Getting 50% of what you wanted isn't a win-win but still a failed negotiation.
Sharing a popular quote below:
> To get real leverage, you have to persuade them that they have something concrete to lose if the deal falls through.
There are many other ways to contribute to open source projects other than coding!
Depends on what your skillset is, you can help add and/or improve docs, design a logo/swag/icon, author a blog post about your experience with the project, etc.