Can you tell me how to properly use the Mesh Filters in Sculpt Mode?

I’m using the Smooth filter and as I click and drag it initially does nothing then it gets very smooth then it goes in reverse and gets unsmooth. I cannot figure out any intutitive way of thinking about how far to move my mouse to actually use this thing sensibly? Is there some vital information I’m missing that is ruining my ability to comprehend?

https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/sculpt_paint/sculpting/tools/mesh_filter.html

and

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