This is both a good and bad initiative. It's good since it gets people interested in witnesses and it's bad because what it does is bribe them. You're going to end up with people voting randomly and putting in superficial reasons without researching the witnesses properly. "His name sounds nice" isn't a reason when a witness can't keep up a price feed.
On the plus side, lately we've seen a big move by minnows to vote for witnesses. Numerous new users message me on Discord asking about witnesses and voting. It's a really good thing because I got to tell you, when the voting function was first added to the Steemit website most people didn't give two shits. Witnesses didn't "campaign" because, frankly, everyone already made their deals. Projects like this activates the minnow armies in a way and makes them "matter".
My rule of thumb is and always was, even before I became a witness myself, is to only vote for those a) whose contribution I know of b) who aren't making mint off it and are giving back and c) who are willing to talk to a minnow with the same level of priority as to a whale.
In a previous post I listed the objectives for witnesses. Feel free to reuse them if you want them:
- Reliability of the STEEM blockchain
- Longevity of the STEEM blockchain
- Utility of the STEEM blockchain
- Competitiveness of the STEEM blockchain
Thanks for your comment. We are conscient about this downside. We will try to be as educative as we can, with the hope most people will play the game. But I know this will not be easy.
We are thinking about a way to avoid random voting.
Wish I had a solution for you.
I you do, feel free to contact me ! XD !