Trust me dude, I can tell you from personal experience that Zac's system is -way- better than having a panel. The problem with having a panel put together is it's all based on opinion rather than factual information and it turns in to a really big popularity contest. I was on the receiving end of some negative popularity when we first started and was ranked way low on the first two power rankings updates below people I consistently beat at the time just because a few people didn't like me.
Panels are biased and unfair, no matter how much you try to prevent it people will still have differing opinions and panels come down to who is better friends with who on the panel. Trust me; it's just a bad idea. I know Zac's system isn't getting updated very often and I agree that the swings in placement aren't drastic enough to keep up with current metagaming, but that can be corrected by adjusting a few lines of code. Changing someone's opinion is a -LOT- harder.
Talk to me about it in person this weekend. You're coming right? <3