How Many Times Do You Clap?
Is there a standard that no one told me about?
When I first joined Medium, back in July, it was mostly as a reader. I was super excited to have found a repository of good writing, not the crap I see on social media and the internet at large.
I clapped for a lot of articles, but I regarded the clap button as being basically the same as “liking” something on social media. This means I hit it exactly once to clap for an article. One single clap. I’m so sorry, everyone. I wasn’t trying to be rude.
At some point, I figured out that I can clap up to fifty times (there needs to be an Orientation for new Medium Users that explains all of this stuff. Maybe there is and I just missed it? I’m terrible about skipping the directions, so that’s very likely, actually).
But I rarely give all fifty claps, and I don’t know why. Does my subconscious think I’m going to run out of claps? Will I use them all up if I give each article fifty?
When I run across an article that hasn’t received any claps yet, I give it all fifty. Otherwise, somewhere in the ten to twenty range is my norm. I like to bring the total number up to a multiple of five, so if, say, an article has seventy-two claps, I’ll give it enough to get it to eighty-five or ninety.
The evil side of me wonders why I don’t intentionally leave it at some odd number just to mess with people who care about such things. Why not intentionally bring it up to eighty-nine claps? Muahaha!
Anyway, I need to know — is there a standard? How many claps do you give? Does it depend on how much you like the article? I do tend to give more claps for articles I really, really like. But mostly, it’s between ten and twenty. And maybe that’s because, in real life, I’m not an enthusiastic clapper. If I clap twenty times for something in real life, that’s a lot of clapping. I’m not an overly emotional person (I would never be chosen as a contestant on a gameshow. I just can’t get that excited) — and I have nerve damage in my hands, so clapping in real life actually hurts.
And while I’m asking, how many claps do you give for comments? If someone responds to a story, and you clap for their response, how many claps? Does it even matter?
