I'm cool with it, but it does seem a bit odd when someone I don't know claps for three different comments of mine, on three different stories, within maybe half and hour.

One possible explanation is that they have given the algo little to go on in terms of following topics/pubs/writers, but have followed me (probably in a shyly unstated follow-for-follow gambit?).

So when I comment on an article, that has an exaggerated algo impact of pushing it into their feed through the 'X commented on' factor, which is why they saw all three of those articles in a bunch.

Another possibility is that they are actually doing a weird stalker thing.

Either because they are weird stalkers (Hi, weird stalker! I know you're reading this...). Or because they know that I will keep seeing their name in my 'doorbell' timeline, and be prompted to follow them.

Except they often have written no stories. So why would they want the followers?

It's a mystery wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a stalker.