With all the personal attacks and drama on Steemit recently (particularly in the trending page), it's a good idea to remember the one thing you can (sort of) do about it at the micro level.
Vote.
Now, of course you can do this by simple memory or research, and that is often sufficient. But, @Drakos also has a tool that will let you see who is slacking off at a glance, in ways that you will not otherwise normally be able to determine without checking into their witness server/node more deeply.
Find it at www.Steemian.info
Let's take a look at the witness info section. Here's a typical snapshot:
A red name with strike-through is a "dead" giveaway for a dead witness. In the above shot, we can see witness #30, Bhuz, is dead with a 621 minute feed time. If you look at the other witness feed times, you will see that is far too long. Normally, one would decide to unvote Bhuz here until (and at least) he can restore an accurate and timely price feed.
Of course, technical problems are not the only, or even main, way to determine who one will vote for as witness. It's more of a minimum-competency threshold - if a witness can't keep an accurate price feed and a live note operating, they probably (definitely) aren't a good choice for such a technical position.
As Bernie Sanders is fond of pointing out, a lot of these witnesses don't really do anything, and just treat Steem as their own free, passive income. Don't vote for them.
We also have a Radio Station! (click me)
...and a 10,000+ active user Discord Chat Server! (click me)
Sources: Google, @Drakos
Copyright: SmartSteem, PALNet, SPL, @Drakos, Steemian.info