>If you need a compiled binary, you should be getting it from the official website
Many projects use Github pages as the official website, Twitter Bootstrap for example.
What should they be expected to do? Distribute via BitTorrent and hope everybody that wants to use the project has a torrent client installed (and are able to even use bittorrent at their place of work/school)?
It's just not as convenient for maintainers or users, who just want to grab an archive and get on with it.
But that isn't true of many other legit open source projects. As others have pointed out: mobile apps, browser extensions, native apps / libraries, etc. are much more readily accessible when distributed as binaries than as source. Most open-source projects don't want to require everyone to learn how to build from source before they're allowed to use the project, and I think that's a good thing.
Many projects use Github pages as the official website, Twitter Bootstrap for example. What should they be expected to do? Distribute via BitTorrent and hope everybody that wants to use the project has a torrent client installed (and are able to even use bittorrent at their place of work/school)? It's just not as convenient for maintainers or users, who just want to grab an archive and get on with it.