You've articulated better than I could my concerns about The Banfield. I'd add that another problem is that he's not an 'expert' in steemit, or you might say masquerading as an expert in his videos (same goes for his setting up a witness server) because he believes in the platform, he's turned himself into an 'expert in steem' because he's realised there's money it - It's as if there's zero substance to the man. He's as soulless as his voting bot.
It's the same with his Parys prodigy - his instructional videos aren't entirely useless, they will teach you something, but they are mediocre, and at the end of the day he's just some bloke in a blazer with no real expertise in anything.
I absolutely agree with your general view that in order for someone to be voted as a witness they should actually be doing something substantive for the benefit of the platform.
There's lots of worrying stuff in these comments... still, we live in hope, and I think I've got my witness votes right!
well you are voting for wackou who has not been active for over a month and has not update his price feed for 2 weeks longer than that
apart from that, you have 2 slots open which could easily be given out to some of the lower ranked witnesses that are struggling to make it up the ladder or even to break even on the costs.
so use those votes and spread them around
I would appreciate one for the project I am part of but there are others out there that are just as deserving
https://steemconnect.com/sign/account-witness-vote?witness=swisswitness&approve=1
Thanks - will review and revise as necessaRY!