Does my "little dispute" fit into this then?
Are "issues" a factor at all?
It could be asserted that witness shouldn't be involved in issues.
Witness currently provide seed nodes, sign blocks, and price feeds. For the most part, this is all witnesses currently do. If a witness is for or against the direction of the platform, there isn't anything they can realistically do. If a lone witness rejects a hardfork, it will still get adopted.
But I think we can make this a factor. At least, I hope we can.
If it did, I would classify it under "non-essential." Which means I wouldn't mind if a witness had a position on it or not.