Certain people are better than others at judging without bias for power rankings. Disregarding that, it would also be preferable to do so in private because, while "EVERYONE'S OPINION IS IMPORTANT", it's rather unproductive to have a dozen pages of EVERYONE'S OPINION arguing over two people's placements or something. This is why a panel is set up for a power rankings, and it's not the entire region deciding on why X should be #4 instead of Y. Decisions get made more quickly when there's four people discussing instead of forty.
You are right about it being much easier to create power rankings if there is a smaller number of people discussing it, but then, who decides who the panelists are going to be? Who rates a persons ability to be unbiased?
If the answer to these questions are the names of people who are backroom members (and were when they made these decisions), then yes, it's an elitist circle jerk (for lack of a better term).
I was more implying that if I were to vote player A at dead last, that player would be upset at his placement. With the backroom being private, he would have to be content to accept his placement or argue factually. If the backroom was open he would simply look to who voted what and would just resent those individuals.
It's a possibility but I think it's a stretch to say that this is without a doubt what would happen. Also, arguing factually does not mean a person isn't resentful.
Funny story. I was at a tournament where the director said, through a megaphone, "There will be a special melee backroom only dinner after the tournament, ask me for the details" or something along those lines. To me that says it all.
