With the new versions (diskperf 2.6.0, netload 1.3.0, systemload 1.2.0), all these plugins always show a short color bar even if the corresponding load is zero. This is very irritating: If the load is zero (or very close to it), there should be no color bar at all, the meter should be completely empty. For example, if I know that currently there should be no network activity at all, but the plugin indicates some network load, this is alarming, and I start investigating what is causing hidden network activity.
Dupe, known bug in Gtk3, see https://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=774695 *** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of bug 12942 ***