Esther -- for me, I clap based on the magnitude at which a piece resonates with me. If it's just-sorta-okay, I'll give it one clap. Maybe 2, 3, 4, or 5. For writing that's pretty decent: between 10-25 claps. But for something I intend to place on my quarterly Recommendations List (my version of a published "Medium Book Club"), a full 50 claps for those articles.

If I'm unmoved by the piece, or I completely hate it -- I will give zero claps.