I'm puzzled about the news that Medium is "hiding claps" because I'm still seeing claps at the bottom of many stories. Maybe it's older stories that still show them and newer ones won't?

I saw giving claps as a "mannerly thing" to encourage a writer. Sometimes I copy and paste the title to a notebook list of stories to respond to and forget to clap. Even after responding to the story, I forget again to clap. That's more a function of my aging brain than the quality of the article.

The better sign of how a reader feels about your writing on Medium is their decision to follow you.