Keeping track of witness voting is important to me especially as a witness (currently number 28). I spend countless hours checking on steemdb.com to see how not only my witness, but those of the Minnow Support Project are doing. You can see a full list of MSP witnesses by checking out http://minnowsupportproject.org/leadership/. In all honestly I check it probably once an hour to see how me and peeps are doing.
What's a witness?
A witness is two things. 1. It's a server that creates the blockchain and inputs settings to configure how it functions. 2. It's the person that operates the witness server.
What makes a good witness
- The first and foremost thing you have to do is run a reliable server for the blockchain.
- Add to Steemit somehow.
The first part is tricky because the block can be finicky.
The second part has a wildly ranging scope of activities. I generally break it down into two groups: technical witnesses and social witnesses.
Technical witnesses are programmers with a certain set of skills that can improve the operation of the block, change parameters to make it function better, or create programs that interact with the block and Steemians to make this place better. 
Social witnesses are people that spend hours helping Steemians have a positive experience with Steemit. 
What kind of witness am I?
I have very little technical skills though I am competent enough to run Dr. Otto by 
Which is more important?
That's actually a trick question. What I think is really the most important is activity. I think we need both the technical and the social people.
So, when I'm considering who I'm voting for I think: Do they support the mission of Peace, Abundance, and Liberty that I seek to fulfill? Do they add value, especially to the minnow community, through social or technical skills? Are the active either on the block or in other ways such that they are adding value.
Are they on the latest HF or at least on a recent update they support?
Do they have settings that make sense? (EX: High interest on SBD when the value is over $1 makes no sense to me)
I asked 
to run a SQL queery for me
While the following information is available on steemd.com it's not charted nicely on that site or steemdb.com. You can get this information, but it would take 300 or so clicks. It's better to just use the queery. In exchange for his help I've promised him the liquid rewards of this post. Anyway, below you can see the number of votes a witness has received, the time of their last vote, and the time of their last post. I would caution that people can still provide value even if they aren't posting, and some aren't voting and that may actually be a piece of generosity towards the chain rather than complete neglect. So, here's some data that everyone can use to evaluate witness choices.
I believe these choices matter and impact this place greatly. The primary witnesses in the top 20 make 0.3 steem 1400 times a day through witnessing blocks for fluctuating value of 153k. The backup witnesses make 0.9 steem per witnessed block 1-60 times a day earning up to 20k steem or so in a given year. In truth at the top many of the witnesses rotate in and out of the top 20 so there isn't a clear picture of what they actually make and it's not reported from the block in an easily identifiable way currently on the most popular sites, but for the top 25 or so it's a range of 20k steem - 150k steem in a year.
The question then is what do they do with it. Many create projects. Many build sites. Many support infrastructure. Some just sit back and cash out. So, I advise you to look at this list. Check out steemdb.com/witnesses and start thinking of who would you want to support.
This is all publicly available data from the blockchain and I hope you can use it to make an informed decision.
Love,
| Date: | 2017-08-06 22:21:36 |
| Rows: | 100 |
| Columns: | 4 |
| witness | Votes | last_vote_time | last_post |
|---|---|---|---|
| good-karma | 3003 | 2017-08-07 03:11:57 | 2017-08-06 18:29:57 |
| roelandp | 2288 | 2017-08-07 01:48:24 | 2017-08-06 21:55:15 |
| jesta | 2116 | 2017-08-07 03:07:03 | 2017-08-06 07:28:18 |
| blocktrades | 1959 | 2017-08-06 18:53:03 | 2017-08-01 13:28:18 |
| klye | 1908 | 2017-08-07 02:54:42 | 2017-08-07 00:45:09 |
| pharesim | 1871 | 2017-08-07 03:15:09 | 2017-08-06 13:58:51 |
| gtg | 1843 | 2017-08-06 21:35:42 | 2017-08-06 11:53:00 |
| timcliff | 1796 | 2017-08-07 02:56:33 | 2017-08-07 03:02:09 |
| pfunk | 1794 | 2017-08-07 01:03:24 | 2017-08-06 22:34:39 |
| abit | 1733 | 2017-08-07 02:39:57 | 2017-08-07 00:39:30 |
| smooth.witness | 1668 | 2017-04-17 22:03:54 | 2017-04-17 22:03:54 |
| furion | 1610 | 2017-08-07 00:56:36 | 2017-08-05 07:17:54 |
| roadscape | 1606 | 2017-08-05 00:53:39 | 2017-08-03 02:59:30 |
| clayop | 1597 | 2017-08-06 22:43:03 | 2017-08-06 15:20:03 |
| anyx | 1577 | 2017-08-07 01:09:45 | 2017-07-29 18:55:54 |
| riverhead | 1563 | 2017-07-07 15:34:45 | 2017-06-27 06:29:00 |
| someguy123 | 1502 | 2017-08-04 19:31:30 | 2017-07-31 19:35:36 |
| ausbitbank | 1389 | 2017-08-07 02:23:24 | 2017-08-07 02:18:30 |
| witness.svk | 1374 | 2017-07-14 09:36:30 | 2016-06-21 05:13:57 |
| xeldal | 1361 | 2017-08-07 01:21:21 | 2017-07-23 16:53:06 |
| wackou | 1335 | 2017-08-06 09:10:03 | 2017-08-05 12:52:57 |
| arhag | 1313 | 2017-08-01 04:46:30 | 2017-07-20 23:05:12 |
| bhuz | 1287 | 2017-08-06 15:18:51 | 2017-06-10 04:23:09 |
| bitcoiner | 1223 | 2017-08-03 23:43:42 | 2017-08-03 23:44:12 |
| thecryptodrive | 1188 | 2017-08-07 03:08:57 | 2017-08-03 23:21:12 |
| liondani | 1179 | 2017-08-05 21:58:03 | 2017-08-06 11:02:27 |
| busy.witness | 1076 | 2016-09-15 11:59:27 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
| steemed | 983 | 2017-08-06 05:11:27 | 2017-06-23 20:05:51 |
| joseph | 966 | 2017-08-07 01:10:12 | 2017-08-06 17:22:30 |
| fyrst-witness | 953 | 2017-08-06 22:59:18 | 2017-06-17 09:22:09 |
| complexring | 929 | 2017-04-17 16:30:39 | 2017-03-31 01:44:12 |
| charlieshrem | 898 | 2017-08-04 18:41:36 | 2017-07-31 14:36:42 |
| aggroed | 856 | 2017-08-07 03:09:03 | 2017-08-07 03:02:54 |
| curie | 824 | 2017-08-07 01:58:27 | 2017-08-06 16:31:21 |
| datasecuritynode | 822 | 2017-06-16 12:25:12 | 2016-06-03 02:30:03 |
| ihashfury | 816 | 2017-08-07 03:14:09 | 2017-06-28 15:21:00 |
| steempty | 806 | 2017-08-06 14:19:21 | 2017-07-30 13:31:33 |
| steemychicken1 | 801 | 2017-08-07 01:09:51 | 2017-07-27 05:17:21 |
| cervantes | 778 | 2017-08-06 21:19:57 | 2017-08-06 21:31:00 |
| theprophet0 | 761 | 2017-08-07 01:42:33 | 2017-07-22 22:36:36 |
| bue | 715 | 2017-07-31 03:59:24 | 2017-08-02 06:27:21 |
| krnel | 688 | 2017-08-04 01:32:57 | 2017-08-04 01:25:54 |
| chitty | 629 | 2017-08-07 03:06:57 | 2017-08-01 19:34:18 |
| lukestokes.mhth | 610 | 2017-08-04 18:57:00 | 2017-05-30 04:20:33 |
| boatymcboatface | 605 | 2017-08-04 17:40:39 | 2017-02-06 11:38:24 |
| aizensou | 574 | 2017-08-07 01:09:51 | 2017-07-27 18:33:30 |
| au1nethyb1 | 501 | 2017-05-28 11:53:54 | 2016-09-24 02:54:57 |
| delegate.lafona | 484 | 2017-03-14 20:34:30 | 2017-03-19 22:45:33 |
| steemitboard | 457 | 2017-08-02 11:54:36 | 2017-08-07 02:53:45 |
| cyrano.witness | 450 | 2017-08-02 14:57:30 | 2017-07-28 16:14:09 |
| chainsquad.com | 414 | 2017-01-08 16:10:48 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
| nextgencrypto | 413 | 2017-08-06 18:43:36 | 2017-07-28 04:06:24 |
| teamsteem | 407 | 2017-08-07 03:00:57 | 2017-08-06 14:36:30 |
| dragosroua | 380 | 2017-08-06 20:04:18 | 2017-08-06 14:12:12 |
| masteryoda | 380 | 2017-07-31 12:43:24 | 2016-10-17 22:51:39 |
| bacchist | 369 | 2017-08-05 23:04:33 | 2017-07-21 12:48:03 |
| kushed | 353 | 2017-08-07 01:58:57 | 2016-11-30 16:57:24 |
| jerrybanfield | 317 | 2017-08-07 02:18:06 | 2017-08-07 02:18:33 |
| netuoso | 231 | 2017-08-07 02:09:27 | 2017-08-07 02:09:27 |
| reggaemuffin | 223 | 2017-08-07 02:02:18 | 2017-08-06 19:16:39 |
| arcange | 223 | 2017-08-07 03:09:51 | 2017-08-06 18:16:18 |
| blueorgy | 206 | 2017-08-07 00:52:09 | 2017-08-06 19:16:33 |
| proctologic | 205 | 2017-08-07 03:11:24 | 2017-08-06 02:19:15 |
| neoxian | 186 | 2017-08-07 03:15:09 | 2017-08-07 02:14:03 |
| picokernel | 183 | 2017-08-06 21:01:00 | 2017-07-30 19:32:18 |
| bitcube | 175 | 2016-08-18 16:39:03 | 2016-08-15 14:26:51 |
| jabbasteem | 150 | 2016-09-08 08:42:15 | 2016-07-29 10:10:48 |
| silversteem | 146 | 2017-03-15 00:52:51 | 2016-09-22 05:01:57 |
| followbtcnews | 140 | 2017-08-07 01:55:06 | 2017-08-06 15:18:00 |
| steem-id | 127 | 2017-08-04 19:19:30 | 2017-07-11 14:02:27 |
| dantheman | 124 | 2017-06-29 15:16:33 | 2017-06-29 15:15:27 |
| agoric.systems | 116 | 2017-07-29 01:44:30 | 2017-07-29 01:43:57 |
| drakos | 115 | 2017-08-07 00:38:00 | 2017-08-07 00:38:57 |
| steve-walschot | 111 | 2017-08-04 18:35:06 | 2017-05-23 14:11:24 |
| swelker101 | 105 | 2017-08-07 00:41:24 | 2017-08-06 20:46:12 |
| yunkzilla | 103 | 2017-08-05 20:56:27 | 2017-08-03 17:34:27 |
| felixxx | 101 | 2017-08-06 20:24:24 | 2017-07-31 09:19:12 |
| idnit | 95 | 2017-08-06 22:38:33 | 2017-08-04 12:22:54 |
| royaltiffany | 91 | 2017-02-16 03:26:45 | 2016-10-21 13:48:42 |
| tdv.witness | 90 | 2017-08-04 18:18:57 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
| crypto777 | 84 | 2016-07-28 09:31:42 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
| blockchained | 78 | 2017-08-06 14:06:00 | 2017-08-05 17:13:39 |
| pumpkin | 76 | 2016-09-28 13:31:45 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
| sc-steemit | 72 | 2017-08-07 02:08:57 | 2017-08-06 21:10:09 |
| moisesmcardona | 63 | 2017-08-07 03:08:54 | 2017-08-07 01:41:21 |
| steemfaucet | 59 | 2017-07-21 04:16:57 | 2017-07-16 09:21:57 |
| viva.witness | 58 | 2017-04-22 23:25:36 | 2017-03-20 02:06:51 |
| dele-puppy | 55 | 2016-04-25 14:48:03 | 2016-07-27 00:55:30 |
| steemgigs | 51 | 2017-08-04 18:18:54 | 2017-08-04 05:58:51 |
| l0k1 | 49 | 2017-08-06 18:30:12 | 2017-08-06 14:02:51 |
| rondonson | 48 | 2017-08-07 01:33:06 | 2017-08-07 00:51:27 |
| fubar-bdhr | 47 | 2017-08-07 01:05:15 | 2017-08-06 19:41:33 |
| fydel | 46 | 2017-07-10 17:02:27 | 2017-06-16 18:53:09 |
| cryptos | 44 | 2017-08-07 03:13:51 | 2017-07-28 10:00:57 |
| adamm | 44 | 2017-08-06 23:48:39 | 2017-07-18 07:27:27 |
| dropahead | 42 | 2017-08-07 01:22:30 | 2017-08-07 01:22:00 |
| rainman | 39 | 2017-07-14 09:40:12 | 2017-02-22 21:54:06 |
| hagie | 39 | 2017-08-06 19:28:39 | 2017-01-17 07:58:48 |
| linouxis9 | 37 | 2017-07-17 16:35:15 | 2017-07-16 15:59:30 |
| cloh76.witness | 34 | 2017-08-01 10:46:27 | 1970-01-01 00:00:00 |
Here are some badges I commissioned to help tell the story of what witnesses do around here:
