It's a private chat channel, the owner can do as he pleases. I guess I don't see the drama. Being banned for the natural human act of complaining and seeking sympathy from friends elsewhere seems harsh, but the whole point of cultivating a group like that over many years is to create a community the owner and ops enjoy. I'm not going to have someone over to roleplay who rubs me the wrong way, even if the person is otherwise a fine roleplayer. I don't expect site or channel owners to do so either.
It's just a shame that I can't think of any chat alternatives to #rpgnetbutonlytheonestheestablishedcultureapprovesof
I never had that experience when I used the channel. Rather, I'd have a response like "What's that?" if it was a truly obscure game. I never felt like any game discussion was unwelcome. In the past, users tended to be most familiar with d20 and Unisystem (which seems fairly representative of the hobby to me).
I always thought the channel was like having your roleplay friends over to the house to chat. Sure you talk about games some, but you also cut up with each other, discuss life, and share other interests. I think that's fairly representative of RPG.net as a whole - it's a community, not just a focused discussion group for RPGs.