Let's try this is in a kinder manner.
We have a number of long-running communities within NeoGAF that have their own culture. PopGAF, Black Culture Thread, COMICS!!, etc. There are certain things that we allow within the confines of those community threads that sometimes get out of hand when expressed within other threads.
As examples, KPop Fanperson is largely a thread of very large scale idol pictures and GIFs. Overwatch fan art has its own thread for a reason. The Dead or Alive Xtreme thread treads in dark directions. We have in the past, asked Black Culture Thread to refrain from descending en masse into certain threads. This is before we get into specific injokes and ideas from within those threads and others like them that don't really make much sense to the forums as a whole.
We frown on the large scale GIF spam outside of its intended community. For better or for worse, Antonio Banderas, Slow Nod guy, and Scanlon are a part of the general Gaming side community. Even then, a page of Antonio GIFs back-to-back is generally frowned upon. Do we always catch them? No, especially during a busy time like E3. But if we see them, we try to steer the thread back to something approaching a normal.
I love GIFs, which is clear from my general posting style. But I also understand that GIFs can contribute to problems in some threads, so we prefer to lean away from GIF spamming period. Whether through actual actions or sheer perception, PopGAF is one of the those communities whose specific conduct presents a problem when expressed outside of its specific thread. The fear outside of PopGAF is the beginning of one "PopGAF" GIF leads to a slew of GIFs from the same community; I haven't been a mod or paying attention enough to know if that reputation is earned, but that's the general view of the forum, hence the pushback you get even from the semi-regular poster. Given the widespread nature of the sentiment, which I barely knew about, I gather the stigma is in some cases earned.
Which is to say, it's less about the content, and more what folks and some moderators fear that content represents: an oncoming storm of similar GIFs. I understand if that makes the community feel put upon, but that's what the other mods are trying to get at.
If you notice large-scale GIF spam elsewhere, please report it and we'll step in.
EDIT: Discussing this in a manner akin to Garrett is probably a better choice than some other options.