You might not see it, but several services that are currently been used by the community are provided by witnesses. Examples:

• https://ecosynthesizer.com/ (Symbionts)
• https://joinsteem.org/ (Symbionts)
• https://www.steemyy.com/ (justyy)
• https://steemworld.org/ (steemchiller)
• https://steem-fanbase.com/ (italygame)
• https://steemways.com/ (seven.wit)
• https://upvu.org/ (upvu.witness)
• https://eversteem.com/(etainclub)
  ... and much more

You can also check from here to know which witness is providing additional public infrastructure for the community. https://ecosynthesizer.com/steem/nodes. But we do agree that some witnesses are not contributing enough to the community.

Regarding our official curation account, @ecosynthesizer, it has been under attack for a long time, beginning with coordinated efforts from @bullionstackers after we used it to shield numerous communities from his downvotes. This is why it has a negative reputation.