Measuring the scientific-software community

> I'm not sure I understand this correctly. Who are the people downloading the software at the "baseline" level if not users?

This mystified me at first sight too.

But actually, the "steady trickle" are those downloading the thing, saying "oh, cool" and *perhaps* keeping using it or perhaps going on to other things.

You usually don't re-download the thing when the version hasn't changed (more so when some sort of cache, e.g. a decentralized VCS or your browser's web cache are in-between).

But if you are actively using it, you sure will download the next version, so yes, the interesting information is hidden somewhere between the peaks and the baseline.