It sounds snarky... but perhaps not entirely unjustified. If I was inclined to spend time on IRC I find it highly unlikely that I'd be inclined to participate on those terms.
Replacing the former channel with a new one seems like the appropriate response - assuming there are people interested in that sort of thing who are not already part of the semi-private channel.
#lesswrong on Freenode, which used to be the official unofficial LessWrong channel, has been re-designated as a private hangout reserved for, roughly, ggreer/AngryParsley, efm, realitygrill, rsaarelm, ksotala, gwern, Grognor, chelz, cwillu, Boxo, nshepperd, ivan, mstevens, and jandrog. You're still welcome to speak there, but only if whatever you're saying is interesting/important to one of them and the op.
For less constrained conversation, go to #lesswrong-alt (unregistered; recommended by #lesswrong's op), also on Freenode.
EDIT: #lesswrong's rules have been changed to "behave like decent human beings, give ops liberally to channel regulars, don't ban without warning or if most people disagree". This PSA is hereby retracted.