Sort:  

How do we know which of the witnesses deserve such votes so we don't end up always voting for a witness that doesn't care?

You have to research witnesses and make a decision. Most users with high investment will take the time to research and choose their witnesses wisely as it is important to them and their investment. There are only 20 top positions that make the majority of the earnings and they also have responsibility to make decisions.

If you are not interested in research or voting, one thing you can do is proxy vote. This allows someone else like me to make the witness vote decisions for you. To put is simply, your witness voting copies my witness voting.

How is the proxy vote done? Though I'm a newbie and my sp is still on ground level. Are the witness votes of steemians like me necessary?