Have you ever worked on a major film project to the extent that your contribution was recognized in the opening/closing credits of the film? If so, what film was it and what was your contribution?
How long do you think it will be before closing credits are completely removed from movies being broadcast on cable TV? As it is they speed them up and squeeze them down while simultaneously running ads and previews.
I haven’t personally been in movie credits but I have a friend whose wife is a set designer and worked on the TV show The Wire and has worked on several films made in or around Baltimore, MD.
Most of the TV and film people I know do it for a living… they’d probably get a giggle out of seeing their job described as a “contribution”. 
Most of them also work on the non-union side of things, where getting into the credits doesn’t have much to do with how much you contributed to the project - it’s all about how many names you’re allowed to submit by the studio as part of the contract, and who happens to be in the good books that day.
For example, my other half has been working in visual effects for several years now and has a dozen credits for TV and film (primarily as a compositor or visual effects artist). That said, there are several other projects he worked on where he didn’t get credit at all… time and money constraints meant that the credit went to the company or a supervisor, rather than the individual artists.
As to the second part of the OP, I’m not sure why it’s such a surprise to see credits slowly getting phased out in TV - the last thing a broadcaster wants is to give someone an excuse to get up and walk away from the TV, especially when they can cram in a few more minutes of advertising revenues. Given that it’s easy to get the full cast and crew on IMDB anyways, anyone with a burning desire to know who played Rambunctious Child With Bike #4 can easily look it up at their leisure anyway.
Yes, I have an IMDB listing.
No, it’s not complete (I have other credits that aren’t listed in my IMDB profile).
No, I’m not going to link to it (though my popularity is down 10% this week, apparently).
Yes.
I did the martial arts choreography and played the role of Evil Henchman #1 in The Legend of Dirty Bum. It’s in post-production and will be out Real Soon Now.
I was also one of the original Zombie Ninjas.
Yes.
Not individually, no. But most recently my choir’s name has appeared on the credits of two films: *Happy Feet *and Australia.