> Just leave Freenode and advertise your presence on your website/GitHub or other project channels. Leave people deciding to stay on Freenode alone.
Because it looks like an official channel? Having a topic telling people where they can find the official channel is not bothering people: most people don't know where to go and are only on freenode because thats where they think they should be.
Of course, having a topic is all good. But what some channel owners did is to prevent people from talking on the channel via bans, tried to block discussion and forcefully make people move over. That, in my book, is not ok.
Because it looks like an official channel? Having a topic telling people where they can find the official channel is not bothering people: most people don't know where to go and are only on freenode because thats where they think they should be.