My experience with IRC over the past 6-7 years has been that 90% of the channel ops develop a god complex and have a clique that hangs in the channel with them doing nothing more then harassing people they percieve as "noobs". They always have some lame inside joke they think is funny, like tricking "noobs" into saying some word that will get them autokicked by a channel bot, or whatever.
These people have the "L33T" attitude, and god forbid you make one of them look stupid by answering a question they couldn't, or worse yet pointing out an error in something they said.. This has pretty much always been the case, with almost no exceptions.. I have unfortunantly had to use IRC more often then I find desirable. Thats why I avoid IRC at all costs, and when I am forced to use it I don't bother trying to communicate with the people in the chat room.
In this case, a simple of answer of "I don't know" by anyone in the chat room could have easily diffused the situation. As it is, the guy decided to provoke a response. Even then, he should not have been banned outright. A warning with a suggestion to change his nick should have been the FIRST thing that was done, then if he continued to be a dick, then kickban him. Basically, the way I see it, everyone involved was being a dick, and if I had any say/control over who ops the channel, DDAY would not be an op ever again.
All this reminds me of the days when some of the board moderators here were abusing the priveledge... needless to say they got rid of them, and now we have a great forum here.. anyway, I digress. Point being, if you have the DESIRE to step up to the plate and shoulder a position of responsibility, then you should do your best to maintain a calm head, helpfull attitude, and a fair and even hand.. This was a fine example of someone NOT doing that...