" I question that premise, as my gut says many of my better-written articles receive far fewer claps than those which are not nearly as good." Well said Art. I once thought had the mistaken impression that claps meant the world. Though I still respond mostly with 50 claps, my thing is leaving comments, becuse that's what makes me happy, to see folks actually leave feedback, good, bad, or otherwise. I don't want you to always agree, I just want to hear what you think, and as anyone who follows me knows, I'm always happy to share my views with you about how your story affected me. That's ALMOST better than the monetary compensation. Hey, I'm old, but I'm not stupid :-)