Hi Brian,
Please understand the argument that was made strongly while RFC 3777 was in WG discussion: there is reason to believe that a substantial fraction of the potential candidates would *not* volunteer if they were entering a public race. It's hard to judge the validity of that argument, but it's certain that publishing the names would change the whole process in unpredictable ways.
Like Hesham, I am also aware of this argument and do not necessarily agree with it. (In fact, one could make the point that not being able to tell you have volunteered sounds a bit wimpy compared to what kind of public visibility and pressures the folks need to deal with if they are actually selected, particularly to the IESG.)
Also, to give you a datapoint on potential candidates -- my name's been given to nomcom a couple of times and I certainly would not be bothered by folks knowing who has volunteered and who has not. And I think John L said something similar as well.
--Jari
_______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf