Hi Michael, thanks for your thoughtful response and for reading. It is a predicament. I sometimes have to check my own reasons for clapping. A for effort? Was the story bringing me a new perspective? But of course, we should remember style vs. content, and can we tease those apart. Further, do we agree with the message more than appreciate the writing? I have read some articles that have very much of nothing to say that have reached thousands and thousands of claps. Sometimes I wonder if people only respond to things they can easily understand. Maybe I am that way. I wrote something not too serious, but getting to this point of our desire to nod in understanding instead of trying to learn something new. https://medium.com/illumination/5-things-i-wish-i-had-known-about-doors-12dd27492de6

Thank you for your philosophical take! Commenting is quite valuable, I do think it's important, and could be more so than claps.