This is a great read, Jay! You encapsulated the questions that many new writers and readers of Medium has thought about. I am a reader and writer on this platform. I never give one claps for a story because I think that it would be insulting to the writer who had the courage to try and write something. A one clap is neither encouraging or helpful, it seems to belittle a writer for all the effort it took a writer to publish his story. the least amount of claps I give is 20, 30 for a good read, and 40 to 50 for an excellent story. But that's just my opinion.