I think the hug icon could work fine to give such a hug. The hug button just makes it faster. But I don't want anyone to keep up with how many hugs I give, thank you!

Oh, well, life does go on. I'm one of those "superposters" mentioned earlier, so I guess I need to get one.....

I hope I'm not offending people by having a bit of fun. I think the hug button was suggested appropriately. But I obviously also agree that it isn't necessary to count them....

But then that's just me.