I remember very well how the story started about the need to ban animated avatars, and the Stake signature/avatar campaign is to blame for everything, because in addition to a bunch of shit posters, they also had horribly irritating avatars. There is always someone to blame for something, and when someone abuses something, then the only way is a complete ban - luckily, there are not too many old animated avatars, so some have managed to keep them until today.