Unless the patch tracker lives long enough to grow to a couple (say 50) patches in which case patches not clearly represented anymore and it's de-motivating to even look at the patch tracker, let alone individual patches.
In a voluntary project no-one is *required* to do anything with patches (or anything else for that matter) so, as Thomas says just putting them in a tracker isn't going to have them addressed, but, as Matthew argues at least developers know where to look for them.
The developers are interested in adding things they want or see are needed, and occasionally have a fit of conscience and try to apply some patches. Frankly feeling guilty or harrassed is a bad way of keeping developers motivated.
If the project is going to say patches welcome (tm) then there should be enough developers who agree to assess and apply patches (more than one to allow for breaks, by choice or forced). That needs people who have time and enough knowledge of Geany's code to put their hands up to Enrico and ask for the ability to do this, for example people who have submitted enough patches and demonstrated enough responsibility for the community to have confidence in them.
Of course, like you said, if nobody looks at it ever, it's still pretty useless.
Additionally, if the contributor is not motivated enough to bring up patches again and again then neither the maling list or patch tracker help. In this case it's simply the contributors fault.
Harsh and not terribly welcoming and motivating either, remember that people submitting patches are the projects best source of possible future developers to help spread the workload and thus improve the situation.
I'm sure that the current situation isn't deliberate on the part of the developers, just circumstances, Nick is MIA, Enrico has very little time, I have very little time etc. So again what it needs is for more people to volunteer who have shown that they have the experience and responsibility. The more people who each do a little bit the easier it is for all.
Cheers Lex