You have to realise that "host on another network" is a euphemism for "hostile takeover [by me/us] because I think I could run it better".
asuffield is the lead coder for freenode.Last I heard, freenode does not respect any project decisions: the channel management ends up with freenode staff quite easily. There have been noisy disputes between them and some projects in the past. Their current web site seems to be quiet about what influence a project can have over its channel.
OFTC is another SPI member and was supposed to accommodate official channels, but its development seems to have stalled AFAICT. Their documentation is pretty scarce, too.
Neither looks very attractive to me just now. -- MJR/slef My Opinion Only and possibly not of any group I know. Please http://remember.to/edit_messages on lists to be sure I read http://mjr.towers.org.uk/ gopher://g.towers.org.uk/ slef@jabber.at Creative copyleft computing services via http://www.ttllp.co.uk/