It is possible to be "contributing" without actively contributing, but I will not share it here if only to make it the slightest bit harder for leeches to figure out how to leech. I doubt anyone does that. Dakhath definitely doesn't. She's one of the best, or at the very least, one of the better pilots in the gsf scene. I will also say that there are niche cases where you are actively contributing without being flagged as such. Namely: contesting a node to prevent it from turning red, despite not actually firing on anyone (thus reducing your enemy's ability to earn points and tying up multiple players who are all trying to destroy you). Additionally, it is possible to get tied up against a persistent foe and not getting the chance to hit enemies even as you're chased, leading to you being flagged as not contributing.

Let me guess. You're one of those people who has more fun in DOMs than TDMs, huh? So uncivilized.

1: Actually do something about Starfighter Leeches, make the afk timer actually sensible, that sort of thing. 2: A sort of playback feature. When you're killed, show a couple seconds from the perspective of the pilot that killed you (so that people get a bit more understanding of ways to defeat players, instead of just pROtOrP), but more importantly, record the "raw data" of each match, and let players save it to their computers for... say 20 CC before the system deletes it, and then use TOR or maybe some other thing to read that data and allow any perspective to be viewed, even just a point in open space. This could even be saved as an MP4, for the purposes of Starfighter Videos. 3: Replace Denon with something fun.

Seconded. Spawning in and just afking is essentially the same thing as waiting in the protected area of a warzone, which is, in contrast to the GSF situation, actually penalized. Not entirely sure if you get flagged as contributing just for contesting a node, but if not, such a change may also need to be made if not contributing is more strictly penalized.