Hello Greg,
The idea that gTLD panel decisions should be unappealable might have seemed reasonable in the abstract. In practice, it has turned out to enshrine and insulate inconsistent and poorly reasoned decisions. This may not be the right forum for revisiting that decision, as opposed to New gTLD Program review processes. Furthermore, this may not be an issue that involves reviewing Board decisions, so again, this may not be the right place (or at least, the right email thread) to bring this up.
However, there's still a legitimate issue raised by the "unappealability" of certain decisions, which does need to be revisited in whatever the right place and time is.
Yes the lack of an appeal process within the new gTLD program has basically shifted the focus to the Board. I.e. parties unhappy with an independent panel decision have escalated it to a Board panel (reconsideration process). The reconsideration process did not include reviewing an independent panel decision on its merits (the Board doesn't actually have the subject matter expertise to review most panel decisions on their merits) – but instead involves reviewing that the panel followed the dispute process properly. Then IRP is then used to appeal the Board reconsideration decision. The root cause in these cases is the lack of an ability to appeal an independent panel decision within the new gTLD program on its merits. Regards, Bruce Tonkin