@adatainment I’ve been watching this thread because I’d expected more users to post here about their expectations and interests, and had hoped to set my own expectations accordingly. I’ve been following the technical aspects of the Governance process for a while but don’t know much about how & when human operators will participate in the process. It’s been surprising to see nothing, so I’m taking the risk to admit my own ignorance about the specifics to help bring this information out into the open.
Any hesitancy I have about becoming a dRep would include your own concern that major social media figures will simply overwhelm the system with disproportionate representation, as they have in pool stake distribution. I know there are some safeguards built into CIP-1694 to limit this influence on the governance process itself, but still worry it might be generally impossible to compete for real-world attention about one’s profile or proposals with anyone having that kind of reach.
Though my social influence is practically zero, I’ve already been involved in Cardano advocacy for over 3 years so I feel obligated to at least try positioning myself as a dRep. My first questions would therefore be about any perceived requirements, timelines and deadlines for registration, dRep announcement, proposal promotion, et cetera. I believe creating an announcement channel for these common expectations would be much more important than offering a channel for dRep self-promotion or promotion of institutional favourites.
I would welcome the CF designating a staff member and/or thread to regularly post this information, and I don’t think this should be considered a decline in decentralisation. During whatever period in which dReps become identified and essential to Cardano’s coming Governance process, a public channel on the Forum — containing announcements targeted to dReps and responses — would allow public corrections by informed users in case these “onboarding” activities and deadlines needed adjustment.
Perhaps most importantly… without such a channel, we’re more likely to see a different kind of centralisation: according to social media cliques and trade alliances.
I’ve already seen potential dReps helping each other with testing the CLIs and now some wallets on the SanchoNet, but some (myself included) haven’t dug too deeply into this because they might not know how urgently they need to develop that skill set. Many are balancing the time this would take vs. other advocacy requirements, stake pool operation, Catalyst proposals, and/or full-time employment.
From own my point of view: all of the “deadlines” to build up one’s skills and profile for dRep candidacy could already have come & gone without my knowing. 
And without some regular announcements to indicate “the next ‘right thing’ to do” on that path, this situation is likely to happen to many potential, well-qualified dReps in the future, and the best opportunity for a fine dispersion of beneficial candidates might well be lost.
I think the basics are already in place here on the Forum for the Governance category and this Governance Role: dReps channel - but somehow precedents would need to be set for both official “timeline” announcements and candidacy introductions / personal & party positions / practical topics like metadata preparation & tools / etc. At your discretion, a forum reorganisation with a couple new categories might even be in order… but this would still begin with an announcement about what will be published where & when, with what kinds of responses are expected to benefit our community the most.