Also, many 1 clappers are only here to read, which is far more people than are here to write, and that is the audience one needs to be thankful for the most.

I agree with another commenter that just allowing one clap would get rid of all this sensitivity.

I made a suggestion a couple of years ago in my https://medium.com/mind-talk/mediums-clap-system-amounts-to-a-vermiform-appendix-7587edb85a0a on how to make the claps more informative to readers akin to how a Rotten Tomatos score is informative for a movie customer.

You've probably noticed that I tend to give 36 claps. I came up with my own system: 0, 18 or 36. To me, 50 is arbitrary and 36 is very meaningful, because in Jewish superstition, 18 is a very lucky number as its formed with the same letters as the word for life, and thus “double ch’ai” connotes something very special.