It helps deciding on priority (bug fixes) or whether a package is worth maintaining or keeping in the distribution even if it costs time or prevent some (librar

It helps deciding on priority (bug fixes) or whether a package is worth maintaining or keeping in the distribution even if it costs time or prevent some (library) upgrades, improvements or refactorings that would break it. As a software writer, it motivates me to know that my software is used and that putting effort in maintaining it will help people. For instance, I made a small Firefox extension that requires regular updates by design. Seeing that it was installed on a hundred browsers has motivated me to maintain it. If it was just for me, I probably wouldn't have bothered so much even though this extension scratched a personal itch. As a user, I am a bit reluctant to being tracked so a balance must be found. Edit: the amount of downloads from the archives is not enough. Some packages are downloaded again and again by automated systems like continuous integration systems and a downloaded package can be uninstalled immediately and this would be imperfectly detected.