Okay, good to know!
Regarding the witness selection thread, it's less that I feel that you and your cohort are obligated to reveal your picks and explain them, as much as feeling frustrated by the thought that we as less experienced users are supposed to automatically know who is best to vote for out of hundreds of options. I've read plenty of witness threads trying to determine who to vote for and I honestly wouldn't know the "bad guys" from the good from the way they represent themselves (for obvious reasons). I didn't see anything wrong with a newbie posting his picks and asking for feedback--in fact, I think that's the right way to go about things. If you read a witness thread from someone who looks like they're going about things the right way, why wouldn't you ask for their opinion? I understand that there may have been frustration but I can't stand it when I think someone is being bullied unfairly or being condescended to, so I'll speak up if I see it.
Yes I think it's a good thing to ask and post about witnesses. You can decide what you feel is a good witness, and can talk of them being honest, or a good techie, or whatever - they like cats, it's all good :)
It's possible to proxy (let someone you think is knowledgeable to handle) your votes, which could be an option to start out with?
The list of witnesses is here: https://steemian.info/witnesses
and you can see who votes for who here: https://steemian.info/whovotes
Hope that helps!